The Vampire Diaries Season One
by RoniCullen
Summary: What if Damon and Stefan Salvatore had a younger sister, Elisabeth Salvatore? What if she was turned into a vampire by Katherine along with them? This is Vampire Diaries with Elisabeth Salvatore. The sister of the famous Salvatore brothers has come to Mystic Falls. Rated K plus for violence and romance, because it's Vampire Diaries. Nothing you won't see in the show.
1. Pilot

**A/N I have done a Twilight Fanfiction (if you want to check it out it's called Renesmee's Twilight) and a Smallville Fanficton (called Smallville Season 1), but this is my first vampire diaries fanfiction. I put a lot of work into this and I hope you guys enjoy it! ~RoniCullen**

_So my name is Elisabeth Salvatore, though just Beth for short. I am a little under a year younger than my big bro Stefan Salvatore. We have another brother that Stefan doesn't talk about named Damon. Oh and the three of us are vampires. _

"Beth! We need to get to school!" Stefan's voice came through my bedroom door. Relieved, I slammed my new diary shut and ran to grab my bag. Stefan said that writing in a diary (though he refers to his a journal…) helps being lonely. I was trying it, but I wasn't much of a writer. Once I had my book bag and had picked out a leather jacket from my closet, I opened my door. Stefan wasn't there like I expected him to be. I groaned in annoyance. Probably climbed up onto the roof to get a peaceful moment to himself and then jumped off it… I ran downstairs and then outside, yelling a goodbye to my 'Uncle' Zach as I ran out the door. Zach was really like my many-times-great nephew from some half brother I never knew when I was human (or some crap like that, Stefan had explained it once. I'd zoned out), not my Uncle. But it was all for the cover story and in public I must refer to him as my Uncle, despite the fact that at home he refers to me as his _aunt_. Stefan and I met up outside and then we went to brave the world of high school together.

"Your records are incomplete. You're missing immunization records and we do insist on transcripts." The secretary at the school said.

"Please look again. I'm sure everything you need is there." Stefan said, compelling the woman. I looked over my shoulder, bored with this talk. I saw two girls (one African American and pretty, the other with light olive skin but sill just as pretty) staring at my brother's back. _They better not make a move on him…_ I thought to myself, turning back around. I may be the younger Salvatore sibling, but that didn't mean I didn't protect my brother. It was a silent deal that we had. He protected me physically and I protected him emotionally. Then I froze and looked back. That one girl looked exactly like Katherine, the no-good vampire girl that turned my brothers and I back in 1864… She must be the girl that Stefan saved from drowning in her car off WickeryBridge over the summer. Stefan hadn't stopped talking about her and how she looked just like Katherine… Now I could see why. I realized I was staring (not that they weren't!) and turned my head back to the secretary.

"Well, you're right. Everything is." The secretary was saying as the compulsion took effect on her. I turned my head back towards the girls staring at my brother. The dark haired girl was gone, but the other was still staring at him.

"Please be hot…" I heard her whisper. Stefan turned as we prepared to leave and I saw the girl grin. Apparently he met her standards of 'hot'… Stefan thanked the secretary as we walked out of the office. I must have been a little too close to him as we walked because he turned and took my arms to keep me at a distance.

"We have different classes, Beth, you can't be clingy all day." He reminded me. My eyes darted around, making sure no one was close enough to hear me.

"But there are so many humans here! You know this is my first time at high school and I'm an anti-social little pathetic girl that's not sure if she has enough self control! I'm scared!" I told him, sticking out my lower lip in a pout. He smiled, knowing I probably couldn't be social if my vampire life depended on but having faith in my self control... Stefan and Damon had always been social and likeable to everyone around them. I guess I got the short end of the stick…

"You'll be fine. Here." He handed me a list of my classes, classrooms and times. I took it reluctantly. He hugged me for a second and then headed off. I had a minute before the bell, so I watched him go, unsure if I should try to talk to a human or not. I saw him bump into the brunette girl outside the bathroom. The men's bathroom… I wasn't sure what to think of that. Then I saw a brown haired guy walk past, blocking my vision. I watched him as he passed. He was cute… Then the bell rang. I looked down at my list clutched in my hand and then hurried off to my first class.

As it turned out, I only had history with Stefan, despite us being in different grades. I made a beeline for the empty seat beside him before someone else could take it. I sat down, relieved to be beside my big brother once me. He leaned over to whisper to me.

"Is there something about separation anxiety with you that we should talk about it?" He asked.

"Nope… Just relieved you can watch out for me again." I whispered back. Then the teacher started the lesson and we fell silent. I saw Stefan and that brunette girl exchange flirty looks. I rolled my eyes. I saw the girl look at me, confusion flickering across her face, before turning back to look at the teacher.

"Once our home state joined confederacy in 1861, it created a tremendous amount of tension within the state. People in Virginia's northwest region had different ideals that the traditional deep south. Then Virginia divided in 1863 with the northwest region joining the union." The teacher was saying. _Please, I know all this! I lived through this! _I thought. But I pretended to be interested anyway. Wow… Day one of High School and I was pretty sure this year would suck…

After school I hung out at the local restaurant/bar/high-schooler hang-out, The Grill. It wasn't because I was looking for a friend, more like I couldn't stand being in the house for another second. Stefan was all mopey because apparently he had the hots for that brunette girl that looked like Katherine, Elena Gilbert he said her name was. So I was sitting at a table alone, pretending to be doing homework that was all too easy for me. My real attention was on that cute boy I'd seen earlier. Apparently he was Elena Gilbert's little brother, Jeremy. I listened in on his conversation with another older brunette girl. Apparently he was dealing her drugs and they'd hooked up in a 'drug haze'. I tuned them out. I didn't even want to hear the rest. Instead, I focused on what Caroline Forbes (we had a couple classes together and I'd heard the name) and that other girl I'd seen earlier Bonnie Bennett were talking about.

"His name is Stefan Salvatore-." Anyone could have told Caroline Forbes _that_, I mean come on!

"He lives up with his uncle up at the old Salvatore boarding house-." Another one of those 'duh' things that anyone could have told her…

"He hasn't lived there since he was a kid. Military family, they moved around a lot-." That was just part of the cover story. Though, now that I remember it, Damon was in the military back in the 1860's when he was still a human…

"He's a Gemini-." Wrong. I wondered if she'd been misinformed or just was making stuff up now.

"And his favorite color is blue." She finished. That was debatable. It really depended on his mood…

"You got all that in one day?" Bonnie asked Caroline, sounding impressed.

"Oh please, I got all that in between third and fourth period! We're planning a June wedding." Caroline returned. I rolled my eyes. _Like my big brother would ever fall for you! _I wanted to shout. I didn't. I could just picture everyone else staring at me… It was only a few minutes later that Stefan and Elena Gilbert walked in. I quickly hurried over to them as Caroline, Elena and Bonnie talked to him. I poked him in the shoulder blade and he turned. Caroline shot me a death look.

"Are you staying here?" I asked quietly. He nodded to me. I ignored the hate filled glare that Caroline was sending my way.

"I'll be at home then..." I whispered. Caroline put on a big smile as I prepared to walk away.

"You have a girlfriend already? Cool…" She said, staring at Stefan lustfully. I spun around.

"Sister, actually! And I can hear you! Stop stalking my big brother! You're information you were talking about when you walked in wasn't actually all that true!" I snapped. She looked taken back. Stefan grabbed my arm and pulled me away, sending a smile towards the girls.

"Seriously?" He asked me. I pulled my arm away, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans.

"Well… She was talking about you when she walked in!" I told him. He placed his hands on my shoulders.

"I know. But don't make a big deal out of it. It's just Caroline Forbes being a seventeen year old girl…" He reminded me.

"But-."

"Are you going home?" He asked without letting me finish. I nodded. He echoed my nod and headed back over to the girls. I scoffed and started to walk out. I turned my head to see Caroline, Bonnie and Elena all smiling at him like he had made their day just by looking at them. You know, in 1864 a lot of seventeen year old girls were married, most of the time arranged marriages and were mature, womanly and didn't lust after other men that obviously! I was so busy looking at my brother and the girls that I didn't see where I was going until I bumped into someone.

"Sorry, sorry!" I said at once, turning around. I saw Jeremy Gilbert there and tried to hide a smile.

"It's cool… Hey, that your brother over there?" He asked, pointing to the table where Stefan sat. I nodded.

"Yep… And isn't that your sister?" I asked him, motioning towards Elena. He nodded and then looked back at me.

"Oh, hey, Jeremy Gilbert..." He told me as if just now remembering we'd never met before. I shook his hand as he held it out to me.

"Elisabeth Salvatore. You can call me Beth, though." I told him. He nodded and started to walk away.

"Nice to meet you." And with that he was gone. I smiled at the fact that a cute boy had noticed me. Okay, so maybe I had to bump into him first, but at least we had a short conversation! _Oh gosh, stop that, Beth! You are turning into one of those girls…_ I warned myself. I hurried out of the Grill.

It was late that night when Stefan finally got home. He went to his bedroom at once and I followed.

"Stefan!" I called as he sat down at his desk. I paused in the doorway, waiting to be invited in.

"What's up, Beth?" He said, leaning back in his chair. I skipped in and sat down on his desk in front of him.

"Who's the hottest?" I asked.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Who's the hottest: Caroline, Bonnie or Elena?"

"We are not having this conversation." He said. But he was trying not to laugh. I rolled my eyes and leaned down to hug him around the shoulders.

"It's okay… I know that you've got the hots for that Elena girl… Can't blame you... As long as she's not evil, it'll be good." I told him.

"Except where I can't tell her that I'm a vampire." He reminded me. I bit my lower lip as I thought about it.

"Yeah… That's a bummer." Just then Zach walked in. He threw a newspaper down on the desk in front of Stefan. We both looked. It was talking about some animal attack that took two victims. We both looked up at Zach.

"This was an animal attack." Stefan said.

"Don't give me that! I know the game… You tear them up enough that they always suspect an animal attack. You said you had it under control!" I grit my teeth at Zach. He had no right to be excusing Stefan of this!

"And I do." Stefan responded calmly.

"Please, Uncle Stefan… MysticFalls is a different place now. It's been quiet for years, but there are still those who remember. And you being here will just stir things up."

"It's not my intention." Stefan said just as calmly as before.

"Then what is? After all this time, why did you come back?"

"I don't have to explain myself."

"I know that you can't change what you are. But you don't belong here anymore."

"Where do I belong?"

"I can't tell you what to do. But coming back here was a mistake…" Zach walked out again. I got off Stefan's desk and followed. I only made my presence known by tapping the door after Zach walked into the kitchen. He spun around.

"Jeez, Aunt Beth…. Don't sneak up on me…" He turned back around to the sink. I walked over to him.

"Stefan is not the one doing this. I know he's done some bad things but he didn't deserve that accusation!" I told him in whisper. I turned on the sink so that Stefan wouldn't over hear us.

"Wait? Don't tell me you're doing it!" I glared at my very young (well compared to my actual age), very human nephew for suggesting that.

"No of course not… I can barely stand killing innocent, sweet little animals. Why would… No, how could I kill humans?" I asked.

"I believe you, Aunt Elisabeth…" He muttered.

"But I think… I think its Damon… If it was actually a vampire not just an animal…" I whispered.

"Damon? You're brother? Why would he be back?"

"We are siblings… Just because he hates Stefan doesn't mean he doesn't return to torture him and see me. He hates Stefan, not me." I reminded him. Damon and I had been close despite the age difference when we were human. Just because I always lived with Stefan didn't mean that I loved Damon any less or vise versa.

"Look, Damon's always wanted the spotlight in our family. He'll show his face soon and when he does, Stefan and I will tell him to leave." I told Zach. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"And he will?"

"Okay… Let me rephrase that: I'll ask nicely and then Stefan will tell him and when he doesn't, there will be a fist fight and it ends with them all bloody and Damon leaving…" I told him. I must've looked upset because Zach put a hand on my shoulder in an awkward form of comfort.

"I'm sorry you have a messed up family."

"I'm sorry too… But the point is: don't accuse Stefan of that animal attack! And don't tell Stefan that I think its Damon. I think he has his hopes up that Damon isn't coming around again… Goodnight."

The next night Stefan and I convinced each other to go to the party in the woods with the other high schoolers. I convinced him because he needed to talk to that Elena girl, but I didn't want to go. He convinced me with the teasing mention of Jeremy Gilbert and the possibility of him going to the party.

"Hey, you made it!" Caroline Forbes said as she ran over to Stefan and I. She was just talking to Stefan, like I wasn't right there.

"I did." Stefan replied.

"Well, let's get you a drink!" Caroline suggested.

"Well, I'm-." He started.

"Oh, come on!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him away. I looked around for anyone I might recognize. I considered going over to Elena and Bonnie, but felt that they were being best friends and it was wrong to intrude. I wasn't going to follow Stefan and Caroline; I couldn't stand that girl. Then I spotted Jeremy. I smiled to myself and hurried over. He was standing alone with a beer, so I wasn't interrupting anything but his thoughts.

"Hey!" He turned as I said it.

"Hey, Beth… I didn't think you'd come." He said. I leaned on my shoulder against the tree beside me.

"Why not?"

"You seem kind of…" He trailed off.

"Anti-social, weird in a possibly has some dude locked up in her basement kind of way? Yeah, I get that a lot." I told him. He laughed.

"I wasn't going to say that…exactly… Hey, how old are you?" He asked. I raised an eyebrow.

"Never ask a woman her age, Jeremy Gilbert, it's a surefire way for them to hate you forever. But seventeen. Or will be in two months, I suppose." I said. I guess I was forever stuck at sixteen years old…

"Hmmm… Funny, you look like fourteen or fifteen… Same grade as me?" He asked. I knew what he meant by the only looking fourteen or fifteen. I had never grown out of my childlike appearance. I was barely over five foot tall and had big brown eyes that my brothers referred to as 'puppy dog eyes'. The soft girly voice probably didn't help much either.

"Yep."

"Cool, I noticed we had some classes together, but I never talked to you…. One sec…" He said, looking over my shoulder before walking off. I looked where he had been looking. Some guy that I think was named Tyler something or another was going into the woods with that same girl (Vicki, I think) that Jeremy had been talking to last night. After a couple of minutes, I saw Elena go into the woods after Jeremy. I sighed and headed after her in case something was wrong. Also, I could just think of Damon doing something to them if he caught them alone. Elena was calling after Jeremy and he was only a couple yards in front of her. I walked up next to her and she jumped.

"Safety in numbers when walking in the woods at night… Animals don't attack groups, usually." I told her. _Especially when the animal is one of the groupies brother and that said groupie is a vampire_, I thought to myself.

"Oh thanks. JEREMY! You're Stefan's younger sister, right?" She asked. She called for Jeremy again before turning back to me.

"Yeah, Elisabeth... You can call me Beth. Wow, I think I should just introduce myself as Beth… I must've said those exact words of introduction to everyone person I've ever met." I said. She smiled.

"I saw you talking to Jeremy earlier." She noted.

"Oh, yeah, just being friendly… I'm not making a move on him or anything!" I assured her quickly.

"No, it's okay… I think you'd be a good influence on my brother. He's going through a hard time right now."

"I heard about your parents and I'm really sorry. I lost mine too. My mom died shortly after I was born and my dad died just a couple years ago…" I told her. She smiled sympathetically.

"Sorry. I-."

"VICKI?!" Elena and I sprinted forward at Jeremy's startled voice. We saw Vicki on the ground and Jeremy leaning over her. I could smell the blood.

"She's bleeding." I told them. I ran over and turned her neck. Two fang sized holes were there along with a lot of blood. _Damon. _I pressed my hand against her neck to try and stop the bleeding.

"We have to get her back to the clearing and call 911!" I told them. Jeremy picked her up off the ground. Elena supported her head while I walked backwards, keeping pressure on her neck wound. Elena was yelling for someone to call 911 as soon as we got back into the clearing. We placed Vicki onto a picnic table and I moved so that her brother Matt could take care of her as a boy offering his jacket to stop the bleeding. I backed away, looking at my blood covered hands. I felt my fangs extend and my eyes blacken with veins running up to them. I spun around, looking for Stefan. He was already gone, I couldn't see him anywhere. I knew he was hunting Damon… Great… And here I thought tonight would be fun…

Later I sat on a cop car hood, using a wet wipe to attempt to get all the blood of my hands. The cops were questioning everyone and the ambulance had already come and gone with Vicki.

"Hey are you okay?" Elena's voice came behind me. I turned, standing as I did. Her expression turned from questioning to worry instantly.

"You're crying!" I wiped my eyes with my sleeve. I had realized I'd been crying until she pointed it out.

"I'm not good with blood and drama I guess..." I told her. _Or the fact that one of my brothers did this and now my other one will try to kill him and heck, Damon is probably already dead. _She wrapped her arm around my shoulders comfortingly.

"Come stand over here with Jeremy and me." She led me over to where Jeremy was standing, gently pushing me between the two of them.

"I'll call Aunt Jenna to pick us up in a second, Jer. Do you want a ride home too, Beth?" Elena asked me as she dug out her phone from her purse. I silently shook my head. Then I saw Jeremy had a beer bottle in his hand. I glanced at the cops and then yanked it out of his hand and threw it away. He opened his mouth to protest, but I was talking before he could.

"Nah, I think I'll call my uncle Zach… He'll be pissed, but he'll come." I told her. I was lying; I was going to super-speed home.

"Sorry about your friend, Jeremy. I hope she'll be okay. I gotta go." I pretended to dig for my phone in my pockets as I hurried away. Once I was out of sight, I super-sped back to the boarding house. I stopped dead outside as I saw Damon and Stefan glaring at each other.

"Not here. I won't allow it!" Stefan was saying.

"I'll take that as an invitation!" Damon said, laughing a little. Stefan looked even madder than before. I darted between them just in case there was another fist fight. Damon looked at me, but I was talking before he could.

"Damon, please… After all these years, can't you two just give it a rest?" I pleaded with him.

"I promised him an eternity of misery. I'm just keeping my word." Damon smirked over me at Stefan.

"Just stay away from Elena!" Stefan told Damon.

"Where's your ring? Oh yeah, the sun's coming up in a couple of hours and, poof, ashes to ashes." Damon teased. Stefan looked down at his hands and saw his daylight ring was gone.

"Damon!" I protested.

"Relax. It's right here." Stefan reached for it as Damon offered it to him. Damon grabbed Stefan by the throat. Before I could do anything, Damon had thrown him against the garage door.

"You shouldn't think you're stronger than me. You lost that fight when you stopped feeding on people. Wouldn't try it again. I think we woke up Zach. Sorry Zach." Then Damon ran off, disappearing in a second. I ran over to Stefan.

"Are you okay?" I asked as he slipped his daylight ring on again. He glared towards where Damon had gone.

"Fine… For now..."

Stefan went to write in his journal after that. I went to my room and collapsed on my bed. I felt the tears rolling down my face. I had memories of when Damon and Stefan were as close as brothers could be. Then Katherine came. I pounded my fist into my pillow. I hated her for what she had done to my family… To me…

"Sorry, Beth…" I jerked up into a sitting position at the sound of Damon's voice. He was standing by my open window.

"Damon…" I darted into his arms. We stood there like that for a second before he pulled away.

"But I have things to do, little sister. I'll be at the Grill if you need me. And if you do, you come." He told me. I nodded. He disappeared out of my window again. I went over to my desk and opened my diary. I tapped the pen against it for a second before I wrote anything in it.

_I think I almost liked it here in Mystic Falls. I made a friend in Jeremy Gilbert and his sister, Katherine's not-evil-human twin Elena… But then Damon came. It's not that I don't like Damon. It's what he does. He almost killed one of the girls at my high school, Vicki… I thought if I came back here with Stefan that it would be just like in 1863 before Katherine came. I was wrong. Evil will always follow me. The only thing that I can do is try and stop it from effecting other people. But even that I can't do… Evil follows everyone whether they know it or not because Evil is in the world. It is what good is compared to. Good cannot survive without Evil… _


	2. Night of the Comet

_Today I shall make a move to be more outgoing. Fingers crossed. I might chicken out… Why am I even writing this? This is stupid. _

I shut my diary and jumped up to go to my closet. I dressed in a black tank top, a black leather jacket and dark jeans. I was still pulling my black leather boots on as I grabbed my bag. Then I hurried out of the house and super-sped to school. I passed by Tyler Lockwood and Jeremy as I was jogging normal human speed and skid to a stop. I hadn't heard the first part of the conversation but I didn't need to.

"I vote for right here and right now!" Jeremy was saying. I spun around as Jeremy shoved Tyler back. I ran over and grabbed Jeremy's arm.

"Jeremy, let's go." I told him. The last thing I wanted was to see Jeremy get the crap beaten out of him by Tyler.

"Walk away, Gilbert. This is your final warning!" Tyler warned. I tugged on Jeremy's arms. He ignored me.

"No, this is your final warning, -." I ignored the cuss word. Seriously, what was cussing and teenagers these days? "I'm sick of you watching you play Vicki. If you hurt her one more time, I swear to god I will kill you!" Then Jeremy walked away. I hurried after him, leaving Tyler scoffing.

"What the heck?" Jeremy asked, turning on me once we were out of hearing distance from Tyler.

"Um, I was saving you from getting beaten up!" I told him.

"I can handle myself without you, Salvatore!" I couldn't help but notice the reference to me solely by my last name. He walked off.

"Jeremy! Jeremy!" I called. He didn't stop. Suddenly I felt someone behind me and I spun around.

"Boy trouble?" Damon asked.

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"I said nothing about you dating the human, little sis… Don't freak out… I can kill him if you want." Damon offered. It wasn't a threat or tease, it was an honest offer. I shot him a look anyway.

"Jeremy is off limits to you!" I told him.

"Fine… Fine… I believe the bell is about to ring. I'll see you later, right?" He asked. I nodded.

"Stefan's going to be mad." I said without thinking.

"Yeah, well, you're my little sister too, Elisabeth! He needs get that past his perfect hair and into his head so he stops hogging you." He snapped. He took a breath and then pulled me into a hug.

"See ya later. I got things to do. Get into school like a good little girl." Then he darted off. I hurried into school, a faint smile on my face.

As soon as Stefan and I walked into the house after school we saw Damon and Elena in the living room.

"Hello Stefan!" Damon said, looking over Elena. Elena spun around.

"Elena, I didn't know you were coming over." Stefan said, his eyes never leaving Damon as he talked.

"I know, I should have called. I just…"

"Oh, don't be silly. You're welcome anytime. Isn't she Stefan? I'll have to break out the photo albums and home movies. But… I have to warn you. He wasn't always such a looker." Damon teased.

"Thank you for stopping by Elena. Nice to see you." Stefan said in a polite 'you can leave now' kind of way.

"Yeah, I should probably be going anyway. It was nice to meet you, Damon." Elena told him.

"Great meeting you too Elena." Damon returned. Elena moved to go, but Stefan was in her way.

"Stefan… Stefan?" I moved and motioned for her to go past him. She gave him an awkward look and then hurried out. I gave both Stefan and Damon a warning 'don't kill each other' look before hurrying after her. I caught up with her as she was about to get into her car.

"Elena?" She turned.

"Hey, Beth. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to cause trouble with your brothers. You never said you had another brother." She said.

"Yeah, I didn't, did I? I don't mention it a lot if Stefan's around. They have some… unresolved differences of opinion and I play peacemaker a lot more than I want to… But don't worry; you didn't cause any more trouble than was already there. Look, has Jeremy said anything about me today?" I asked her. She shrugged.

"I asked if he thought you were like a friend to him over breakfast. He nodded, but nothing else. I haven't seen him all day since then. Should he be saying something about you?" She asked with a twinkle in her eye.

"What? Oh, I was just wondering. I actually think that I stopped a fight between Tyler and Jeremy this morning at school. He was mad at me for getting in the way and I was wondering if he'd said something about forgiveness of me to you… I'm worried he doesn't like me even as a friend anymore…"

"Oh, I'll talk to him. He's just moody, don't worry. It's probably nothing and he's already forgotten. And thank you, Beth... You seem to be the first person besides Jenna and me to really care about his feelings. He needs some one like that in his life. I'd better go now. Bye." She said. I nodded, stepping away so she could get into the car. I headed back into the house, wondering if Damon and Stefan had gotten into a fight while I was out.

The next night was the night of the comet. Stefan insisted I go with him. I wasn't sure if it was because (a) he wanted me to have a night of fun, (b) he was worried about Damon showing up and wanted me to help if there was trouble or (c) didn't want me to be alone if Damon wanted to talk to me because as Damon said, he seems to forget I'm Damon's sister too. I hung out at the Grill mostly. I was looking for Jeremy. When I did spot him, he was going to talk to Tyler, Matt, Bonnie, Caroline and Elena.

"Has anyone seen Vicki?" Jeremy asked.

"You're her stalker. You tell us." Tyler shot back. I gritted my teeth and walked over to them. I guess I could stand Jeremy's wrath as long as he didn't get beaten half to death or beat Tyler to the same extent.

"I can't find her." Jeremy said, ignoring Tyler.

"She probably found some one else to party with. Sorry, pill pusher, I guess you've been replaced." Tyler told him.

"What's with the pill pusher?" Elena asked.

"Ask him." Tyler said, nodding to Jeremy.

"You wanna do this right now?" Jeremy asked.

"Are you dealing?" Elena asked in shock.

"She's never gonna go for you!" Tyler told Jeremy.

"She already did. Over and over and over again!" Jeremy shot back at Tyler.

"Yeah right." Tyler scoffed.

"You slept with Vicki Donovan? I mean, Vicki Donovan slept with you?" Caroline asked Jeremy.

"There's no way!" Tyler went on.

"And I didn't even have to force her into it!" Jeremy told Tyler. I backed away, pulling out my phone. I sent a text to Stefan.

**_Have you seen Vicki Donovan?_**

It only took a second to get a text back.

**_No. Why?_**

I bit my lip.

**_Just keep a look out for her… Maybe it's nothing, but Jeremy seems worried that he can't find her. _**

I went back to the others.

"We'll check the bathrooms." Bonnie said, grabbing Caroline's arm. They hurried off together.

"I'll check the square." Matt said.

"I'll come with you." Jeremy said. Elena grabbed his arm instead.

"Oh, no, no, no. You're coming with me." She pulled him off to the side to talk to him. I stayed just out of normal human hearing distance, though I could still hear the two of them arguing.

"So that's your game now? Dealing?" Elena asked.

"I'm not dealing!" Jeremy protested.

"Look, I'm sick of the though love speech, Jer. It's clearly having no impact!" Elena told him.

"You and Jenna, between the two of you… Enough!"

"We can stop if you want! Send you to a therapist where you'll be forced to deal with it or to rehab where you'll sit in a room of strangers and tell them how you let your life fall apart. Or you could talk to me!"

"I vote for none of the above." Jeremy walked past me, heading for the door. I looked towards Elena. She gave me a hopeful smile. I knew what she meant. I hurried after Jeremy. Once he got outside, I caught up to him.

"Jeremy?" He didn't stop walking, but he did look over at me.

"Are you mad?"

"About what?"

"Yesterday with you and Tyler…" I reminded him.

"Honestly, I forgot until now. Thanks for reminding me."

"Would you date me?" I asked. _Jeez, way to be subtle, Beth_!

"What?" He stopped and turned.

"Would you date me if you weren't trying to date Vicki?" I asked. He gave me a weird look.

"I've known you for a couple days… I hadn't thought of it. Why?" He asked. He started walking again.

"You didn't answer me!"

"I dunno know, Beth... Talk me when I'm not worried about Vicki. Or never… Actually, let's go with never…" He walked faster, obviously trying to leave me behind. I easily caught up.

"Sorry. I know that was a bad question at a bad time. I'll go look for her somewhere else. Splitting up is a better way to find her." I hurried off. I ducked into an ally out of Jeremy's view and pulled out my phone.

**_Stefan, have you seen Vicki?_**

I waited for a full minute and got no answer. That wasn't like him… At once, I jumped to conclusions.

"Dang it, Damon!" I turned and saw Damon right there. I stumbled back and he caught my arms.

"Oh how you think so little of me. Vicki's probably on her merry little way back to the Grill by now." He told me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and walking me out of the ally.

"What did you do to Vicki, Damon?" I demanded, tucking my phone back into my pants pockets.

"She was just a way for me to get to Stefan… Don't worry. Are you going to tell me to stay away from her too? Because I saw that Jeremy Gilbert, that boy you like, looking at her. It would be so much easier if that girl was out of the pictur-." I slapped him before he could finish.

"You may be my brother. I may love you. But you can't come and terrorize everyone here, Damon! I want you to stay, but if this is why you're staying, then go!" I tried to walk away, but he caught my arm. I shot a look at him but saw that he was looking at me softly.

"I'm sorry. But I have something to do and I have to do it."

"What?" I asked.

"Something you can't know about… Just trust me that once it's done, I will leave and never come near you or Stefan or MysticFalls again."

"What?"

"Goodnight, Beth…" He ran off. I looked after where he had gone for a moment and then hurried off towards the Grill. When I walked in, I almost bumped into Jeremy. He was looking at Vicki, who was safe and sound. Then Tyler walked over and kissed her. Jeremy's face turned downcast and he walked out, ignoring me. I glared at both Vicki and Tyler, though they didn't see it, and then went back home. I slammed my door behind me, ignoring Zach's shout of protest about shaking the whole house. I went over to my desk and grabbed my diary.

_I am turning into a teenage girl. I am falling for Jeremy Gilbert, the boy I've known for only a couple of days. On a more important (maybe?) note, Damon is up to something. I don't know what, but I'll have to find out. As much as I love my brother, I will not let him hurt anyone here! _

**A/N Please review and tell me what you think of the story so far! **


	3. Friday Night Bites

_High school… I think its human's new way to torture teenagers. And do they even care about the jerks here? I think not… But if I'm pretending to be human, then I must act like it doesn't matter… Like this is the best part of my life. Yeah right. _

I shut my diary and tucked it into my bag as Stefan, Elena and I walked onto school grounds.

"You keep a diary too?" Elena asked. I shrugged.

"Attempting to, yeah…" I mumbled. She nodded and sensing there was nothing else to say, she turned to Stefan with a smile on her face.

"Here's what we're going to do. Are you free tonight?"

"Yes."

"Perfect. Dinner. My house. Eight-o-clock. You, me and Bonnie. You two will spend some quality time and she'll get to see what a great guy you are. Mission accomplished." She said. Behind us, Tyler threw a football at Stefan's head. Stefan spun around, caught it and threw it back. When Tyler caught it, it knocked the breath out of him and he stumbled back. Elena laughed. I smirked at Tyler. Served him right…

"Psst… FYI, our team sucks. They could use you." Elena whispered to Stefan during history. He tried but failed to hide a smile from showing on his face.

"Can't." He whispered back.

"Pearl Harbor." The teacher said.

"I'm a loner." Stefan added to Elena.

"Miss Gilbert?" The teacher said. Some part of my mind reminded me his name was Mr. Tanner.

"Hmm?" She asked, looking up.

"Pearl Harbor?" He repeated.

"Umm…"

"December 7, 1941." Stefan answered for her.

"Thank you, _miss Gilbert_." Mr. Tanner said sarcastically.

"Anytime." Stefan said, smiling.

"Very well… Fall of the Berlin Wall?" He asked Stefan.

"1989. I'm good with dates, sir." Stefan said. _So am I. We both lived through it, remember_? I thought, looking at him.

"Are you? How good? Keep it to the year. Civil Rights Act."

"1964."

"John F. Kennedy Assassination."

"1963."

"Martin Luthor King."

"'68."

"Lincoln."

"1865." I couldn't help but think about that year myself. _The year after we were turned into demons… It was shocking for everyone. His wife had a mental breakdown shortly after._

"Roe VS Wade."

"1973."

"Brown VS Board."

"1954."

"Korean War."

"1950 to 1953."

"HA! It ended in 52!" Mr. Tanner cried.

"Uh, actually, sir, it ended in 53." Stefan argued. Mr. Tanner looked annoyed. He looked around at the rest of the students.

"Well, someone look it up!" I whipped out my phone, already knowing Stefan was right but needing proof. I typed fast into my internet search as the second it came up on screen, I looked up at Mr. Tanner.

"It was 19…53." I said, smirking at Mr. Tanner. Everyone applauded Stefan while Mr. Tanner steamed by himself.

I skipped over to Jeremy as school ended later that day. He looked over at me in surprise as I matched his pace walking out of the building.

"You seem to be in a good mood." He noted.

"My big brother totally beat the teacher on dates of historical events. He's awesome. You should have seen him." I said, grinning.

"Huh, sounds cool… Hey, are you going to be at the Grill tonight?" He asked. We stopped walking to look at each other. I tried to keep the smile off my face, but failed miserably.

"I have time, if you want… Like a date?" I asked.

"A fake date, not a real one. I want Vicki to think that I have a girlfriend even though I don't." He said. He started to walk off, apparently expecting me to follow. I glared at his back. Can't he take a hint that I liked him? I groaned and hurried after him. Well, a fake date was better than nothing.

"I'll be there. What time?" I asked.

"A little before eight... Elena's having some dinner with a couple of friends and I'm avoiding that." He said. I nodded to him.

"I'll be there."

When we got home, I was telling Stefan about how Jeremy and I were going on a 'fake date' as we headed up to his bedroom. I stopped mid sentence when we saw Damon sitting at Stefan's desk, reading his journal.

"How were tryouts? Did you make the team? Very Emerson, the way you reveal your soul with so many… adjectives." Damon told Stefan. Stefan ripped the journal out of Damon's hands.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked.

"I've come to apologize. I've been doing some thinking, some soul searching, and… I want us to start over. We need to put the past behind us. You're my little brother and if you want to live a normal, happy human life then I want that for you. Maybe I can do it too. I can learn to be a non-living, living person… Maybe there's hope for us both." Damon said. He tried to keep a straight face but ended up laughing. I rolled my eyes. I couldn't believe I actually started to believe him for a second there.

"You know, it doesn't have to be this way, Damon." Stefan reminded him. I walked over to stand by Stefan's side again, folding my arms across my chest.

"Of course it doesn't. I saw Elena today, BTW. That means 'by the way'. She was at cheerleading practice. She looked so perky in her short shorts… Just simmer down… I didn't even go near her. I've got my own cheerleader now. Ooh, that reminds me… I gotta run. I have a date. Sweaty palms. Wish me look." He hurried out of the room again. I turned to Stefan.

"He has a date? You know what? I don't even want to know. I have to go pick out the perfect 'fake date' outfit." I hurried to my bedroom.

"Hey, Beth." Jeremy greeted me as I walked into the grill. I grinned at him and wrapped my arms around one of his.

"So does my outfit look like something to wear on a real date, even though I'm going on a fake date?" I asked. He glanced down at my skinny jeans, tank top and leather jacket only for a second.

"Sure, sure…." The tone of voice sounded like he didn't give a crap. I rolled my eyes at him, but said nothing about it.

"She's my sister and I love her, but sometimes she can make you work for it." Matt murmured as we walked over to him, probably referring to Vicki.

"I find it pretty easy." Jeremy said. Tyler purposely bumped into Jeremy, knocking him off balance. I put a hand on his back to help him keep his footing.

"All right, I get it. Hit me to impress her… That's…that's real nice." Jeremy said. I sensed a fight coming on and I tightened my grip on Jeremy's arm.

"I don't need to impress her. I already won." Jeremy shoved him hard enough to send him stumbling backwards. I caught Jeremy's arm and pulled him backward.

"Now you're dead!" Tyler threatened. Tyler moved to get at Jeremy. I darted in front of Jeremy, hoping to block any blow, and Matt grabbed Tyler's arm to pull him back.

"Am I? Cause it seems like I'm standing here waiting for you to man up!" Jeremy said behind me. I turned and shoved Jeremy back, not hard enough to hurt just enough for him to back up.

"Ty, don't!" Matt said as he struggled to keep Tyler back. Tyler shook Matt off. I tensed, waiting for him to come at Jeremy. He didn't.

"The next time I see you, Gilbert-."

"No the next time I see you!" Jeremy stormed out of the Grill as Tyler went out the other way. I shot at glare at Vicki but Matt spoke first.

"What are you doing, Vick?"

The next day, everyone was talking about the football game that night. Stefan had joined the football team, so I was going to the game just to support him. During the day I was a little clingy to Jeremy, just making sure he didn't run into Tyler. Anytime I heard Tyler's voice or saw him coming, I steered Jeremy the other way not so subtly. I lost Jeremy that night during the pre-game wildness. Instead of finding him, I let him go and watched Tyler closely from a distance instead. I found Elena while the coach (and history teacher Mr. Tanner) was talking.

"Hey, have you seen your brother?" I asked.

"Not tonight. Why?"

"Last night at the Grill Tyler and Jeremy said next time they saw each other, they… well, they didn't say what they would do. I assume it would be bloody. I've been steering Jeremy away from Tyler all day, but I lost him. Tyler's over-." I turned and saw Tyler had disappeared.

"Crap." I heard the sounds of a fight behind us and Vicki yelling for Tyler to stop. I spun around and ran towards the sounds. Elena, Matt, Stefan and the rest of the students were also going to stop the fight. Jeremy was on the ground, getting punched repeatedly by Tyler. Stefan grabbed Tyler's wrist. I ran to pull Jeremy up off the ground. He shook me off.

"Hey, he's down! Enough!" Tyler spun around and punched Stefan. Stefan didn't even flinch. Matt grabbed Tyler and hauled him back right as Jeremy grabbed a broken beer bottle and slashed at Tyler. I put my hand up instinctively to grab Jeremy's wrist. Instead of broken bottle slashed across my palm. Stefan grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back, turning me as he pulled me back. I was almost against his chest.

"Jeremy, really? You're bleeding, put your head up!" I examined my already healed palm. Stefan looked like he was trying to think up an excuse for the fact that I had no wound.

"Beth, are you okay?" Elena ran over to me, spinning me around and grabbing at my hand. She tried to uncurl my fingers to see my palm.

"Let me see how deep it is, Beth!" Finally I uncurled my fingers. She saw nothing and confusion showed on her face. She looked up at me.

"It didn't cut me. It was Jeremy's blood on my hand." I told her, smiling weakly and hoping she believed me. Elena gave me a weird look like she didn't believe me and then turned on Jeremy.

"You could have really hurt her, Jeremy! She could have needed stitches for that if you'd actually got her! Oh, and you're drunk. Great!" Elena said sarcastically. I turned to Stefan.

"Get back to the game. I'll make sure that Jeremy doesn't be an idiot." I whispered. Matt and Tyler had already gone back, so Stefan nodded. I walked over to the truck bed where Jeremy was sitting and sat down next to him.

"So you're my babysitter now?" He scoffed.

"If I have to be, yes."

I sat silently with Jeremy while he talked to his other druggy friends. It wasn't ten minutes later that Damon was suddenly there beside the truck. I hopped down out of the truck bed.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him. Then Jeremy noticed him and hopped off the truck bed too. Damon gave me one of his 'stop him before I kill him' looks. I backed up into Jeremy's chest; subtly stopping him from walking any closer.

"And who are you?" Jeremy asked him. Damon gave him a smirk as he leaned against the truck. He looked back over at me.

"I can't see why you like him, little sister; but sure enough he's the punk you'd go for…. And I feel over crowded, lets go dark in this lonely, dark corner." Damon suggested teasingly, reaching for my arm.

"Whoa, not happening. She's staying here." Jeremy said. As much as I appreciated the protectiveness, there was really nothing Jeremy could do to Damon to stop him. Besides, even if Stefan had lost faith in Damon's humanity, I hadn't. I put my hand in Damon's outstretched one.

"It's okay, Jer. He's my brother."

"That's not Stefan." Ah, now the drunkenness was showing and he began swaying a little bit. I turned around and pushed him gently back down on the truck bed.

"Okay, honey, just stay here." I told him, letting the patronizing tone slip in my voice. I let Damon lead me out of hearing distance of them before ripping my hand out of his and turning to him.

"Stefan doesn't want you here."

"He knows I'm here. There's nothing he can do about it. And what's more important is if you want me here." He told him.

"And if I say no, then will you leave MysticFalls?" I asked him, folding my arms across my chest. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"No, but I'll be offended. Listen, little sister, I have some work to do here that I can't leave without during. By the way, you're going to need a new coach." He said. Then he disappeared.

"New coach… What are you…?" Then it hit me what he meant. I sprinted around the building. I nearly ran into Matt and I skidded to a stop.

"Have you seen Mr. Tanner?" I asked. He shook his head.

"I was looking for-." Suddenly he stopped talking and was looking over my shoulder. I turned too. Mr. Tanner's body lied drained of blood a few feet away. Matt acted quicker than I did.

"Somebody help!"

I walked numbly to my bedroom later that night. Stefan followed me, not saying anything until I was sitting on my bed. He sat down next to me.

"You okay?"

"Zach was right, Stefan… We shouldn't have come back. Damon followed us and this is our fault." I told him, raising my eyes to look at him.

"No it's not, its Damon's… And I won't let him hurt anyone else." He said. He stood up and walked out.

_Sometimes I think that Stefan is really going to kill Damon… Then he doesn't. Yet I worry every time they get into a fight. Is this how our eternity is doomed to go? This time is different, though. I have friends. Elena has been nice to me, nicer than anyone outside my family has been for a long time. Matt's okay too… He's nice and kind and not like Tyler at all! Tyler and Vicki I could live without, but… They are still humans. And then there's Jeremy… Damon is not going to hurt Jeremy Gilbert. Not while I still have a stake-free chest._

**A/N Just some quick notes about the story: **

**1. I know that Beth seems to be all over the place. In the first chapter she was shy and clingy, then in the second chapter she seemed blunt and outgoing around Jeremy and now she's a normal mix between the two but she's supposed to be kind of random. Stefan's the calm, cool and collected one and Damon is... well, Damon. She's supposed to be different from them. I don't want her to be a copy of either one of them because I want to give the character some depth.**

**2. Is anyone hoping for a romance between Jeremy and Beth? I'm planning them to date for a bit (you'll have to wait, read and see!).**

**3. About the relationship between Beth and her brothers: Although it seems like she's closer to Stefan, I want to make it clear she loves both of them, she just lives with Stefan because she shares his diet and Damon drinks humans instead. **

**Thanks to all my readers! Please continue to read and review! ~RoniCullen**


	4. Family Ties

_A day off school… Wonder what trouble Damon is going to get into today. _

I shut my diary, not in the mood to write some soul-searching couple of pages that no one else is going to read anyway. I jogged downstairs and into the living room. I stopped dead when I saw Damon and Zach together in the living room.

"I know you. You always have a motive. So tell me, what is it this time?" Zach was asking Damon. Damon darted over and grabbed Zach by the throat. I raced over and grabbed Damon's arm.

"Damon, don't!"

"You are in no position to question me." Damon told Zach, completely ignoring me for once.

"Damon!" I tried again, weakly pulling on his arm.

"I didn't mean to upset you." Zach said tersely.

"This is not upset, Zach." Damon told him. Just then, Stefan walked into the house and saw the three of us.

"What's going on?" Stefan demanded. Damon dropped Zach and then turned to face Stefan. I shot a quick apologetic look to Zach before turning my attention back to Damon again.

"Having a family moment, Stefan. Spending some quality time." Damon answered, a smirk on his face. Then he walked out the door, swinging it shut behind him. Stefan turned to Zach.

"Hey, are you okay?" Stefan asked him.

"No, I'm not. Neither are you two... How many more people have to die before you see that?" Zach asked, rubbing his throat.

"I see it, Zach. Alright, I see it?" Stefan told him.

"Then why aren't you doing anything about it?" Zach demanded, looking between the two of us angrily. I spoke before Stefan could.

"Because it would take human blood. It's the only way that we could stop him and you know that we can't do that! Stefan loses control and he turns into a Ripper! Trust me, you'd rather deal with Damon! I guilt trip myself for both of us until I turn off my humanity and then I'm even worse than Damon!" I said, raising my voice until it was almost a yell.

"The Vervain could weaken him if he ingested it. Then it would be more than easy for the two of you to take him down." Zach told us.

"Vervain hasn't grown here since 1865. Damon saw to that. The little I had left, I gave to Elena. What?" Stefan asked at Zach's shaking head. Silently, Zach led us into the cellar. I never liked coming down there. It always gave me the creeps. I stuck close to Zach and Stefan as we walked. Zach opened a big door and we looked in. There was a big box garden with Vervain growing in it.

"You've been growing it?" I asked Zach. He nodded.

"It's just something that was passed down through the generation. Blood only runs so deep when you're related to vampires… Damon would kill me if he knew I had it." Zach said.

"But you're telling us… Why?" I asked.

"Because I trust you. And you're gonna need it if you want to get rid of him."

That night was the annual Founder's party. I sat on Stefan's desk while he got ready, already dressed in my short black lace dress, black leather jacket and knee high leather boots. Damon walked into the room, all dressed up too.

"Do they still wear ties to these things?" Damon asked no one in particular, straightening his tie in Stefan's mirror. I glared at his back.

"Why are you even going?" Stefan asked.

"It's only fitting… We were at the first one, remember? You, me and Katherine had a ball. Even beautiful young Miss Elisabeth Salvatore was making an impression on the local boys. Am the only one that thinks she'd been married by the end of the year, had she not been turned into a vampire?" Damon asked.

"It's better we don't draw attention to ourselves." I told Damon, ignoring his comments about the first Founder's Party. He shrugged.

"So Stefan and you should stay here. I'll make sure Elena has a good time and I won't lay a hand on Jeremy, if that little punk is even going… My goodness, I've driven you to drink." My head snapped over to Stefan as he took a drink of Scotch. And so the plan began….

"Can't seem to rid myself of you… What else am I supposed to do, besides going about living my life?" Stefan asked him, taking another drink.

"'Go about living my life'… Therein lies you're eternal struggle. You're dead dude. Get over it. What do you think? It's cool not growing old. I like being the eternal stud…" Damon said.

"Yes, being a one hundred and fifty year old teenager has been the height of my happiness." Stefan said sarcastically.

"You cracked a funny, Stefan. I should drink to celebrate. 1864… You and Katherine were the perfect couple… It was hell watching you dance with her. Drink up, little sister." Damon handed me a small glass of Scotch. I took it and put it on the desk beside me without drinking any.

"My happiness was short-lived, as you well know." Stefan reminded Damon.

"I remember… I left the party early. I was waiting for her. The night you dropped her off, I was waiting just outside. You were such a gentleman. Gave her a kiss on the cheek and what she really wanted was… oh, well. Here's to history repeating itself, huh?" He raised his glass. Then he smelled it and dumped it on the floor.

"I admire your effort Stefan. Pouring yourself a drink then spiking the bottle with Vervain... I didn't even think about Beth not drinking any because she's such the good-girl, I figured she wouldn't drink… However, I'm not some drunk sorority chick. You can't roofie me. But I can't help but feel a little used. I thought the three of us were having a moment... I have to go to the party angry… Who knows what I'll do?" And with that he was off. Stefan waited until we heard the front door shut before he said anything to me.

"You ready to do this, Beth?" He asked me, raising an eyebrow. I jumped off the desk and matched his pace as we walked out of his bedroom.

"I wouldn't dress like Buffy the Vampire Slayer I wasn't ready to do it, Stefan… Now, let's kick Damon's butt!" We walked downstairs and met up with Zach in the living room.

"That was his favorite Scotch… I'm sorry, I thought that would work." Zach said. We shook our heads in unison.

"I wasn't counting on it." Stefan said.

"You knew it would fail?" Zach asked.

"Did what I wanted. It lowered his guard. He won't expect me to try again so soon." Stefan told him. Zach handed over a small bag of Vervain to Stefan.

"I doubled what I put in the Scotch."

I stood in a big room of the Lockwood house that was filled with historical artifacts from the town with Elena, Damon, Caroline and Stefan. Elena was reading off the registry from 1864.

"Sheriff William Forbes… Mayor Benjamin Lockwood… Is that Damon Salvatore? And Stefan Salvatore… And Elisabeth Salvatore!"

"The original Salvatore siblings… Our ancestors… Tragic story, really." Damon said quickly.

"We don't need to bore the girls with stories of the past." Stefan said, trying to shut Damon up.

"It's not boring Stefan… I'd love to hear more about your family." Elena said with a smile.

"Well, I'm bored. I want to dance. And Damon won't dance with me." Caroline complained.

"Mind if I just borrow your date?" Caroline asked Elena.

"I don't dance." Stefan said.

"Sure he does. You should see him. The waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk… He does it all!" Damon said, smirking over at Stefan.

"You wouldn't mind, would you Elena?" Caroline asked.

"It's up to Stefan." Elena told her.

"Sorry, but I'm not taking no for an answer." Caroline dragged Stefan out of the room. Damon gave me a 'run along' look. I gave him a warning 'don't touch Elena' look before smiling over at Elena.

"I think I'm going to go find someone to dance with me." I walked off, but not before shooting another warning glare at Damon. I stood by myself outside for a while. Jeremy wasn't here, so I had no one to really talk to. After a couple of minutes, I saw Elena come out to Stefan and then danced. She disappeared into the bathroom after an obvious argument. A minute later she reappeared to push Damon, obviously threaten him and then she went to Stefan. I used my vampire hearing to listen in.

"I'm sorry. I take it all back. You're completely right about Damon." She told Stefan. I saw the confused look on his face, wondering what Damon had done now.

"What did he do?" Stefan asked.

"There are bruises all over Caroline's body. Bite marks… He has her all confused and messed up in the head… You don't look surprised."

"Um… I'm handling it."

"Handing it? Stefan, you should be having him arrested!"

"Elena, please… I…I don't expect you to understand."

"I don't understand anything, Stefan. So why don't you it up for me?"

"Look, there are some things you don't know, okay? Things I want to tell you, but I can't. And I may never be able to. And I just need you to trust me."

"Trust is earned. I can't just magically hand it over!" Stefan's eyes flickered over Elena. He caught sight of me and he subtly moved his eyes towards something. I looked and saw Damon pulling Caroline out into the yard. I gave him a nod. I snuck around the area and got close enough to listen in on Damon.

"Don't! She took it off and I got flustered, okay? I didn't know what to say. But I swear, okay, I did not tell her. I just told her that you didn't mean to hurt me!" Damon walked around Caroline and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind her.

"You make me crazy, you know that? It's okay, I forgive you…" He whispered so even with vampire hearing, I could barely hear.

"I swear I didn't say-." She started.

"Shh, shh… It's okay… Unfortunately, I am so over you now." Damon bit into her shoulder and started to drink. It only took a couple seconds for both of them to be on the ground. I ran over to Damon. He looked up weakly at me.

"What the…?"

"We knew we couldn't spike your drink… So we spiked hers."

"You're in on it, little sis?" He asked in a moan.

"Sorry, Damon…. I wanted this to turn out differently, but I guess some things never change with you." He gave me a death look and then passed out. Stefan hurried over. We grabbed him and hurried home without anyone seeing us.

Stefan dumped Damon in the cellar with the Vervain once we got home. I waited until he was out before Zach and I locked the door. Stefan stalked off. Zach turned to me.

"Thank you, Aunt Beth. You know this was the right thing to do." He reminded me. I nodded and put my head on his shoulder as we walked out of the cellar.

"And so the town is safe… As long as no one finds out we locked our brother in the cellar, we'll be good." I walked up to my bedroom. I plopped down at my desk and pulled out my diary.

_We caught Damon. Part of me is thrilled. The town is safe! The other part of me is horrified. We had to Vervain our own brother and lock him in our cellar? What happened to talking it out? I guess the phase of talking it over ended with our human lives… Something still bothers me, though. Damon said he had a plan. What? Stefan knows nothing of this, as far as I know… I must find out what he has planned before he can wreck havoc on our home again…_

**A/N By the way, Sblck, I am seriously considering your idea about Kol. I haven't planned to the third season yet but now I am (but I won't tell you about if I'm going to do it or not!). Thanks for your review! ~RoniCullen**


	5. You're Undead to Me

**A/N another chapter update for my readers. Thanks for the views and reviews! **

_Damon, Damon, Damon… All I can think about is Damon! And it doesn't help that he knows I can hear him so he begs me to release him __all day long__. Stefan has forbidden me to go to the cellar to see him alone, fearing I will release him. Zach is forbidden to go into the cellar at all. That I can agree with. It's for his own safety. _

I shoved my diary aside and walked down into the cellar. I heard Stefan down there already, so I could go down. Stefan was standing by the closed door, talking to Damon through it.

"Where's my daylight ring?" Damon moaned.

"Won't be needing it anymore." Stefan answered.

"How long have I been in here?"

"Three days." I answered for Stefan.

"Hey, little sis… Can't you just open that door for me like a good little girl?" Damon asked. I saw Stefan's warning look, like he actually thought that I'd do something like that.

"What are you doing to me?" Damon asked when I said nothing to him.

"During the dark ages when a vampire's actions threatened to expose or bring harm on the entire race, they would face judgment. They sough to reeducate them rather than to punish." Stefan told him.

"You know what will happen if I don't… feed on blood..." Damon sounded weak already.

"You'll grow weaker and weaker. Eventually you won't be able to move or speak. Within a week your skin will desiccate and you'll mummify. A living corpse… Unable to hurt anyone… Ever."

"So what you're going to leave me in the basement? Forever?"

"I've injected you with enough Vervain to keep you weak. Once your circulation stops, I'll move you to the family crypt… Then in fifty years we can reevaluate." I walked out of the cellar. I couldn't stand this type of talk between my brothers…

* * *

"Beth, wait up for me!" I turned as Elena ran towards me at school. She stopped in front of me and caught her breath.

"Have you see Stefan today?"

"Yeah, he's coming today. I think he's at his locker." I told her. I turned to walk away, but she caught my arm to stop me. I turned back to her.

"Are you okay? You seem… off." She said.

"Damon's gone... You don't have to worry about him anymore, Elena…" I told her. She looked surprised and then concerned.

"Gone as in…?"

"As in Stefan told him to leave town and never come back here and now I'm probably never going to see my big brother again gone. Are we done here?" I asked a little snappily, putting my anger at reality into the cover story.

"Sorry, Beth…" She said, dropping my arm. I sighed.

"I'm sorry; I'm just upset about Damon." I told her.

"Why don't you come to the car wash? It's called Sexy Suds, so you'll have to wear a skimpy bikini, but it might be fun. It's a fund raiser for the school." She told me. I shrugged.

"Sure, why not?" I said with a shrug of my shoulders. She grinned, happy at my agreement. I pointed over her shoulder at my brother.

"I'd better get going. Stefan's over there if you want to talk to him."

* * *

The second Stefan and I came home from school that day, I tuned my vampire hearing to listen to any sound coming from the cellar.

"I came to say goodbye Damon." Zach's voice came up from the cellar. _Why the heck was he down there with Damon?_ Then there was a thump.

"Unlock the door, Zach!" I darted down there with Stefan right beside me. Stefan easily pried Damon's hand off of Zach's throat and Damon yanked his hands back in through the bars of the door. I ran over to Zach.

"Keep it up, Damon. The more energy you expend, the faster you'll go!" Stefan reminded him.

* * *

I came downstairs the next day, dressed in short shorts and a tank top that didn't go all the cover my whole belly button. I didn't have a bikini for that 'sexy suds' fundraiser thing, so I improvised.

"Zach? I'm heading out for that fundraiser thingy at the school now!" I called as I came into the living room.

"Okay, then go on out, Aunt Beth… I'll stay out of the cellar and away from Damon like a good little human." He said. I nodded to him, hiding a smile.

"Thank you. We don't need another incident like yesterday where Damon actually succeeds. Human or not, you're family." I told him. He gave me a small smile in return to my comment.

"Yeah, okay. I guess we are. You hold the title for the only vampire I like as family." He told me. I put a hand over my chest dramatically.

"Oh my gosh, really?" He smiled wider at my mock surprise. I gave him a quick hug before heading out.

* * *

"No friend discounts. No freebies. No 'pay ya later's. We are not running a charity here!" Caroline told me. I nodded in agreement. She handed me a bucket and a sponge with a smile.

"You can go help Matt and Bonnie with their car over there." She told me, pointing to them a couple yards away. I nodded and headed over. Bonnie welcomed me with a wide smile.

"Hey, Beth!" Matt was looking at something else. Bonnie and I both turned to see that he was watching Elena and Stefan kiss.

"Uh-uh. None of that tortured pining stuff!" Bonnie told him. He looked down at the car hood he was scrubbing. I got to work on the windows.

"I'm just observing." He told her.

"Oh, Tiki, this one's yours!" Bonnie told a cheerleader as another car drove up. The girl, Tiki, scoffed.

"Why do I always get the homely ones? Just to be clear, your cards a p.o.s. I mean, we can wash it, but it's still a p.o.s." Tiki told the driver.

"You don't have to be rude!" Bonnie told her.

"Rude is uglying up the road with that junk!" Suddenly the hose filling up a five gallon bucket flew up out of the bucket, spraying her all over. Matt laughed as he grabbed it and shoved it back into the bucket.

"Wet and wild, Tik!" I was laughing too hard to work on the car for a minute. Matt was having trouble himself just because of the look on Tiki's face.

* * *

I finished up the car that I was washing and Caroline directed me over to help Elena and Stefan with the one they were washing.

"That's a pretty ring. You might get soap in it, though it." Elena said, motioning towards my daylight ring. I looked down at it too. It was a small ring as opposed to Stefan and Damon's big bulky ones. It had a simply silver band with silver swirls that kind of pointed to the small oval Lapis Lazuli stone.

"Thanks. And it's fine. It's been through much worse wear and tear than this..." I assured her. _Like over a century and a half of wear and tear worse than this…_

"What kind of stone is that?" She asked.

"I think it's called Lapis Lazuli." I told her.

"I noticed that both you have rings with stones like those and Damon… Is there a story behind it?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, Damon's and mine had has the family crest on it if you notice. It's from the Italian Renaissance. Beth's was passed down through the females of the family, who were all given one like that when they married into the family." Stefan said. Not true on my story of course. Katherine had her witch friend Emily Bennett make this for me and it was obvious she put more thought into Stefan's and Damon's rings than mine. She smiled and nodded. Then she wiped her hands on her shorts and started to walk off.

"Okay, I'm going to get more towels."

* * *

It was hours later, after dark, when Stefan and I finally got home.

"Hey, Zach! We're back!" I called as I walked in. No answer… Stefan walked in behind me just as I looked around. A rug in the hallway was messed up and I just then noticed the door had been wide open.

"Zach? Zach! ZACH!" _N_o_, no, please no_! I begged in my thoughts. I dropped my bag and Stefan and I sprinted down to the cellar. I stopped a couple steps from the bottom as I saw Zach's lifeless body. Stefan sprinted past the open cell door and over to Zach.

"Zach! Oh no, Zach!" He said. He looked up and me. He shook his head, confirming he was gone. I felt tears rolling down my cheeks. I stumbled down the last couple of steps and fell to my knees in front of Zach's body.

"No! No… Zach." I sobbed on the floor while Stefan rubbed my shoulder in an awkward form of comfort. I could tell his mind was some where else. Suddenly he jumped up and ran out of the cellar. I took a second to try and stop my crying. When I failed, I just got up and ran after him anyway. He had already grabbed a stake and was heading for the door. He glanced at me, waiting for me to stop him. I snatched the stake from him, my expression saying it all.

"You're going to help me?" I nodded silently. I was aware of the little mascara I had on running down my cheeks with my tears like black war paint. He nodded, grabbed another stake and we ran out the door. We both stopped dead when we saw Elena there.

"What are you?"


	6. Lost Girls

Stefan went after Elena after she drove away after a short conversation about 'what we were'. I couldn't take down Damon alone and I wasn't entirely sure I would be able to mentally if Stefan wasn't there to remind me we needed to. I darted up to my bedroom instead. I slammed the door behind me so hard it was knocked off its hinges and the whole door fell on the floor behind me. I didn't care. I flung the stake at my wall and it stuck halfway in. I grabbed my diary off my desk and threw it at the wall too. I saw a framed picture of Damon and me sitting on my desk too. I grabbed it and threw it to the floor with enough force to send glass flying everywhere. I walked numbly over to my bed and collapsed on it. Then I lied there and cried. I cried for Zach. I cried for me…

"Beth…?" My eyes fluttered open as I slowly woke up. Damon was leaning over me. I decked him. He fell off the bed and onto the floor. I jumped up and grabbed the stake from the wall. He was on his feet by the time I'd grabbed it. I ran towards him anyway, stake raised. He caught my wrist and easily grabbed the stake from me. Then he kicked me feet out from under me and we both went down on the ground with him kneeling over me. I struggled to get up but he had me pinned.

"Jeez, what was all that about, Physco?" He asked, honestly surprised and confused. I struggled again, but then gave up. I glared up at him.

"That was for Zach! I just wish I'd gotten the chance to kill you!" I told him. He looked offended. I didn't care. I struggled again and this time he let me up, but he kept his hands around my wrists.

"I am sorry you're upset about that. I just needed to get out of there. But I'm stuck here until night time again because our brother took my ring." He said. I jerked my arms away so I was free.

"Then stay here! I'm gone!" I darted out of the room, downstairs and out the door before he could stop me. I ran to the one place I knew Stefan would bring Elena. The ruins of our family home…

"Beth?" Stefan asked in surprise as I darted up to them as they climbed out of the car. I ignored Elena's surprised face at my speed.

"Damon's at our house. Want to care of that before I go back and stake him?" I asked him. Elena was talking before Stefan could anything out.

"Stake him? Your own brother?"

"That kind of how you kill vampires! Stefan told you that, right? Stefan, answer now!" I told him. I was too pissed to be dealing with Elena right now. But again Elena was talking before Stefan could.

"What did he do to make you act this way?"

"Probably killing Zach in cold blood. Yeah, yeah, that would do it!" I snapped. She looked taken back by both the information and me snapping at her. Stefan hurried over to me.

"I will take care of Damon." He promised. Then he turned back to Elena.

"This didn't used to be ruins. This used to be our home. The Salvatore House..." Stefan explained. She sat down on a rock to listen. I rolled my eyes. _How was this getting Damon out of our house?_ But then I plopped down next to her on the rock to listen and help explain.

"It looks so…" Elena started, looking around.

"Old? That's cause it is." I told her, trying to keep the anger out of my voice. It wasn't like it was her fault what Damon had done, why should I be mean to her?

"Wait, how long have you…?"

"I've been seventeen years old since 1864. Beth's been sixteen since then. Damon's been twenty-four since then…" Stefan told her.

"Oh my god…" Elena said.

"You said you wanted to know. I'm not gonna hold anything back. Half a century before the boarding house was even built, this was my family's home. Damon, Beth and I… we were all born here. The Salvatore siblings… best of friends…"

_Mystic Falls, 1864_

_Stefan and Damon ran out of the house, carrying a football. _

_"Wait, where did you learn this game?" Stefan asked. _

_"Camp outside Atlanta. One of the officers picked it up at Harvard. Catch!" Damon threw the football and Stefan caught it. _

_"Wait a minute, wait a minute! What are the rules? What are the rules?" Stefan asked. Damon and Stefan playfully struggled for the ball. Katherine joined me on the porch. I gave her a grin. She took my hand and led me off the porch. _

_"Who needs rules? Mind if we join you?" Katherine asked. Damon and Stefan both turned to us. Stefan now had the ball. _

_"Uh… Well, you could, uh, get hurt… My brother likes to play rough." Stefan told her. She winked at me mysteriously and led me forward. _

_"Sometimes tells me you like to play rougher…" She snatched the ball away from Stefan and ran, laughing and calling for Stefan to chase her. _

_"Why are you just standing there? That is a girl who clearly wants to be chased. If you don't, I will!" Damon told Stefan. They both ran after her, smiling. Katherine turned and threw the ball to me, calling for me to run. I did, laughing. Damon easily caught up to me and tackled me, rolling over at the last minute so I landed on top of him instead of the ground. He laughed and stood up, pulling me up with him. Katherine and Stefan ran over, laughing. _

"You knew Katherine if 1864? Damon made it seem like…" Elena trailed off, looking between Stefan and me in shock. Stefan nodded knowingly.

"Damon was trying to make you think that I was still heartbroken. He saw that I was happy with you and he wanted to ruin it."

"All because you loved the same woman 145 years ago?" Elena asked in disbelief. I nodded but said nothing about it. Stefan was the one that answered.

"She wasn't just any woman…"

_Mystic Falls, 1864_

_Stefan was chasing Katherine through a garden maze. I stood by the statue at the end, grinning because I knew Katherine would win. She ran over and touched the statue. She spun around to face Stefan. _

_"Ha! I win. What's my prize?" She asked. _

_"What would you like it to be?" We all turned to look at Damon as he stood leaning against a tree behind us. We all grinned over at him. _

_"They extended your leave?" I asked. _

_"I was simply having too much fun to return to battle." He said in a subtle 'I quit' kind of way. I ran over to hug him anyway. _

_"You're commitment to the army is inspiring." Stefan said sarcastically. Then he walked over to hug Damon too. Katherine followed, smiling. _

_"Well, this works out wonderfully for me." She said. _

_"How is that, Miss Katherine?" Damon asked. _

_"Now I'll have two of you here to keep me entertained… First and foremost, I'll need someone to escort me to the founders ball." _

_"With pleasure, I would be honored!" Stefan and Damon said at the same time, bowing to her. She smiled wider and turned to walk away. _

_"The smart and kind Salvatore brothers both coming to my rescue. How will I ever chose?" She asked before walking away. _

"She chose me… I escorted her to the ball at the original Lockwood mansion." Stefan said. He had been telling Elena the same story that I'd been reliving in my head, remembering it as if it was yesterday, not so many years ago.

"The first founders party… Where you three all signed that registry…" Elena put it all together. Stefan and I both nodded.

"I didn't care that I had gotten something my brother wanted… Didn't even care that it had hurt him… I only knew that I wanted her…" Stefan said.

"So he was upset…?" Elena asked.

"That's the thing about Damon. He doesn't get mad. He just gets even. What Damon wants, Damon usually gets. I didn't know it at the time, but…turns out that night… Katherine was with him too."

"So he stole her from you, not the other way around?"

"Turns out she wasn't ours to steal…" He told her about Katherine compelling him for the first time after he found out she was a vampire.

"She could control our minds. She compelled each of us to keep the secret from each other. She even compelled Beth to be her best friend and never tell us about her. She wanted all of us to be together forever. Damon and me both has her boyfriends and Beth has her best friend… Didn't work out that way, but… Damon and I, looks like we're stuck with each other, like it or not..." Stefan walked over and pulled out Damon's daylight ring from a piece of the ruin.

"Is that Damon's ring?" Elena asked.

"I took it from him, but I have to give it back."

"No, don't, Stefan. Keep it hidden!" Elena urged him. I grabbed her arm to spin her around.

"He has to! Damon's already hurt us by killing Zach because we tried to stop him from hurting anyone. If Stefan keeps that from him, he'll retaliate in the only way he knows how to hurt him. By hurting you."

"The mind control you said Katherine used? Do you ever do that to me?" Elena asked Stefan walked her back to her car. I was out of sight, but not out of hearing distance. I was just waiting for Stefan to get her back so we could go deal with Damon.

"No, the necklace, it contains an herb called Vervain. It protects you from being compelled. I wanted to protect you from Damon's influence. But I also wanted to… protect you from me. Elena, you should never take that necklace off. Because no matter what happens after today, no matter how you feel about me, you'll know that you were free to make your own decision." _Ugh, enough with the mushy-gushy crap!_

"Can you come with me home? Just in case Damon…"

"It's daylight. He can't come after you. I have his ring. But sure. Beth!" I groaned and walked over. He opened the back door to her car and I reluctantly climbed in. Elena climbed into the driver's seat and Stefan went around to the passenger seat.

"What's going on?" Elena asked as Stefan and she walked into her house. I got trapped by the door. _I haven't been invited in yet… Awesome. _Even Stefan didn't notice that fact and they walked on without me. Elena and Stefan walked over to Vicki, Matt and Jeremy near the kitchen. I stared at Vicki. She couldn't be…

"She's really messed up…." Matt told her. Stefan took one look at her and obviously thought exactly what I was thinking.

"Elena, back up. Vicki, look at me. Focus. You're going to be fine. Everything's going to be fine. Guys, take her upstairs and shut the blinds. She's gonna be okay." Matt and Jeremy started to lead her up the stairs but she stopped before she hit the sunlight streaming in from the open door.

"Shut the door!" She moaned.

"Yeah, can I come in?" I asked Jeremy. He owned the house as much as Elena or their aunt Jenna did, so he could invite me inside.

"Yeah, yeah, come in." I came inside and shut the door. Matt and Jeremy took Vick upstairs as I ran over to Stefan and Elena.

"You know what's wrong with her?" Elena asked Stefan.

"Yeah…" Stefan answered.

"What is it?"

"She's transitioning."

"Transitioning to what?"

"A vampire." I answered for Stefan, putting a hand awkwardly on her shoulder for some kind of comfort. She turned to me with shock and disbelief on her face.

"What?"

"Damon must have gotten to her. She's new. She hasn't completed her transition yet." I told her.

"H-how does she do that?" She asked.

"She has to feed on human blood."

"And if she doesn't?"

"She'll die. She may only have a few hours." Stefan answered this time. She looked back at him, over at me and then towards the stairs.

"She's upstairs with Matt and Jeremy right now!"

"It's okay. She doesn't know what's happening to her yet." Stefan assured her.

"So when is she gonna know?"

"Right now, she doesn't remember anything. A part of her is still human, but slowly, the deeper she gets into the transition, the memories will start to come back and she'll know she has to make the choice." Stefan explained.

"The same choice that you made?" She asked. This time she turned to me for the answer, sympathy in her eyes. I closed my eyes for a second, blocking the memory threatening to resurface. Just then, Vicki ran down the stairs and then out of the house. Matt and Jeremy ran downstairs and out the door after her. Elena, Stefan and I followed. Vicki was already long gone, probably using her vampire speed as she got it.

"I'm gonna go look for her. Call me if you hear anything!" Matt said. He ran off down the sidewalk calling for her. Jeremy went back in the house. Stefan and I both looked at Elena.

"We can track her."

"Go."

We found Vicki at the cemetery.

"Vicki…" Stefan started softly. She was starting to cry.

"I'm starting to remember things, what he is, what he did. I remember you! The hospital, the rooftop… It's all coming back!" She sobbed.

"I'm sorry; Damon had no right to do this to you." He told her.

"He said that I need to feed. What will happen if I don't?" She asked.

"You'll fade quickly and it'll all be over."

"I'll be dead!" She snapped.

"Hey…" He started to try and comfort her.

"I don't want this!"

"I know, Vicki… You think that I wanted this either? Or Damon or Stefan? It'll be okay, Vicki… We can help you." I told her.

"Is it better? Is it better? Will I be better? I wanna go home! Will you take me home?" She asked, still crying. Stefan nodded.

"Okay." Suddenly two gun shots sounded. I felt a burning pain in my stomach as I collapsed on the ground. I turned my head weakly. I saw Damon feeding on a guy with a gun. He tossed the man to the ground. He ran over to Stefan and pulled a bullet out of his chest. Then he came to me and did the same thing.

"It's wood. They know…" He mumbled. He helped me to my feet and I didn't pull away as he pulled me into his arms.

"If anyone is going to kill you, it's me. Ring." Damon demanded of Stefan as he climbed to his feet. Before anything else was done, we saw Vicki drinking the guy's blood.

"No! No, Vicki!" Stefan said.

"I'm sorry." Then she darted off. We both turned to Damon.

"Oops."


	7. Haunted

A/N** I know I've been updating a lot today but I've had fun writing this story and I've gotten a lot of the first season episodes done so far (currently writing Unpleasantville in case you're wondering) and I thought I'd update some more. **

Stefan, Damon and I tracked Vicki down to a parking lot. Stefan yanked Vicki off of Tyler as she fed on him and held her back.

"Let go of me!" She yelled.

"What's going on here, Stefan? What's wrong with her?" Tyler asked as he climbed to his feet. Damon looked over at him.

"You don't talk."

"Screw you dude!" Tyler shot back.

"'Dude', really, 'dude'?"

"Damon, don't!" I warned.

"Oh come on, whose going to miss this idiot?" He asked. I couldn't argue with his logic, but I still gave him a 'don't do it' look. Tyler punched Damon for that last comment. Damon slowly turned to him.

"Don't you hurt him!" Vicki yelled at Damon. Damon grabbed Tyler by the throat but apparently thought better of it. He looked at me.

"Compel the idiot to forget everything, little sis. We'll be at the house." Damon and Stefan disappeared. I walked up to Tyler and compelled him.

"Forget what you saw here tonight. None of us were here." I pushed him towards his car again and darted off before he saw me.

I sat at the dinning room with Elena, Stefan and Vicki the next day. Stefan was teaching Vicki the wonders of coffee and how it warms us up so we aren't so cold to humans all the time.

"Well what if I want to drink human blood?" Vicki asked.

"You're going to have to learn to live with that urge and fight it on a daily basis." Stefan told her.

"Oh god don't start with that twelve steps thing… School counselor has been down that road and it doesn't work for me." She said.

"It can work. It's your choice Vicki." Stefan told her. I admired his patience; I was already annoyed with her and I hadn't even been in the room with her all day like Stefan had.

"So you've never tasted human blood?" Vicki asked Stefan casually. My head snapped up and I sent a death look her way.

"Don't! Not a subject you remind Stefan of!" I told her.

"Its fine, Beth. Not in the long time, no, Vicki." Stefan told her.

"How long?"

"Years and years. I'm not proud of my past behavior." Stefan told her in a tone that suggested he regretted the 'it's fine' he'd said.

"Does this sketchy feeling ever go away? It's like I have a massive hangover… This daylight thing is a-." I ignored the cuss word. I wasn't one to really listen in and repeat words like that. "I need more blood. Where's you're bathroom? I have to pee. Why do I have to pee? I thought I was dead." Stefan silently pointed towards the bathroom and she left the room.

"Her amount of class is amazing…" I muttered sarcastically. Stefan grabbed her empty cup of blood and turned towards Elena.

"I'm going to get her some more. I'll be quick and Beth is here is there's a problem." He darted off. Vicki came back into the room.

"False alarm. My body's feeling really funky. It's a good funk, but it's weird." She told us. _And the class continues…_

"Who are you calling?" Elena asked. I looked up from my hands and saw Vicki had her phone out.

"Jeremy."

"Vicki, you can't see Jeremy anymore…" Elena tried to tell her softly. Vicki spun around and glared at Elena. I stood, ready to get between them if need be.

"Oh come on, don't you start. I'm gonna see whoever I want to see."

"Even though you could hurt him?" Elena asked.

"I would never hurt Jeremy!"

"I know you think that, but I can't take that risk. You're gonna have to let Jeremy go now." Elena told her.

"Oh really? How long have you been preparing the 'you're not good enough' speech? I'm assuming it predates the whole vampire thing!" Vicki snapped.

"All I'm saying is Jeremy is not getting involved in any of this. I mean it, Vicki." Elena said firmly.

"Or what?" Vicki darted forward and grabbed Elena by the throat, pushing her against a wall.

"Let's get one thing straight-." She didn't finish her sentence; I grabbed her and threw her off Elena, against the opposite wall.

"YOU HAD MY BROTHER WHIPPED FOR FIFTEEN YEARS!" Vicki screamed. She made to get at Elena, but I blocked her easily and held her back.

"FIFTEEN YEARS AND YOU DUMPED HIM. WHEN I LOOK AT YOU, THAT'S ALL I SEE, JUST SO YOU KNOW! AND I'M GOING TO SEE JEREMY WHENEVER I WANT TO SEE JEREMY BECAUSE I HAVE SOME FUN NEW TOYS TO PLAY WITH AND I WON'T THINK TWICE ABOUT RIPPING YOUR LITTLE HEAD OFF, YOU GOT IT?" Vicki continued to scream. She jerked herself out of my arms and then slapped me as hard as she could.

"AND YOU STAY AWAY FROM ME!" She screamed. She turned to walk away, but I grabbed her arm and spun her around again.

"Don't. Ever. Try. That. Again." I warned her in a low voice. She scoffed at me and tried to jerk her arm away. I kept a tight grasp on her so she couldn't.

"And if you go near Jeremy, I will hurt you." I told her in the same low voice. She was starting to look frightened of me. Good… Just then Stefan darted back into the room. I let go of her arm and turned to Stefan.

"Keep her in check before she kills your girlfriend or Jeremy!"

That night Stefan and I caught Damon taking Vicki towards the front door.

"What are you doing?" Stefan asked.

"She been cooped up in your room all day… She's not Anne Frank!" Damon told him as Vicki bounced up and down beside her.

"No, no. Hey, hey, now's the time for this!" Stefan protested.

"If you're gonna teach her, teach her. Show her what it's all about." Damon said.

"She could hurt someone!" I reminded him. _She could hurt Jeremy…_

"I'm not taking her to Disneyland; I'm taking her to the front yard! Come on, Vicki." He led her outside. Stefan and I followed closely behind.

"Bad idea, Damon!" I told him.

"She's a vampire, Beth, she should know all the perks!"

"Like what?" Vicki asked excitedly.

"Like…" He used his super-speed to run behind her without her seeing him. He tapped her shoulder as she looked around for him. She spun around and laughed.

"Whoa, how did you do that?"

"Come on, Vicki. Live a little. No pun intended." She used her super speed and disappeared. We all looked around for her. Damon whistled for her like she was a dog and then slowly turned around to face us.

"Uh… my bad."

Jeremy wanted to go to the Halloween party at the school that night. Elena wanted me to go with the two of them in case Vicki was there. I could tell she was freaked out from earlier when Vicki attacked her and now looked up to me with the realization that despite my size I could take her down. Elena was dressed up as a nurse. Jeremy was just in a hoodie. I was wearing my leather jacket, skinny jeans, a grey tank top and high heeled boots. I didn't have a Halloween costume and didn't waste the time going to buy one. As we walked towards the school, Jeremy scared some kids. Elena smacked him upside the head, but I was laughing with him.

"You went with last years costume too, huh?" Matt asked, coming over to Elena with a matching costume.

"Yeah, I didn't know I was coming until an hour ago." She said.

"Me neither… You're going as… you?" Matt asked Jeremy and me. Jeremy scoffed and stalked off. I reluctantly let him go and smiled shyly at Matt.

"Jeremy's not talking to me right now. We got into a fight." Elena told Matt. He nodded understandingly.

"I got into it with Vick too, when she got home. I'm trying not to smother her tonight, but part of me doesn't want to let her out of my sight."

"Wait, she's here?" I asked.

"Yeah. You can't miss her, she's a vampire." He walked off. Elena turned to me but I already knew she was she was going to say.

"We need to find Jeremy."

Elena called Stefan and told him about Vicki being here while I searched for Vicki about the school. I was beginning to panic when I couldn't find either her or Jeremy. Then Elena grabbed my arm from behind and I spun around to look at her, hoping she'd found one of them.

"Stefan's got Vicki in a classroom. Over there." She pointed and I ran into that classroom while she continued to search for her brother. He was trying to convince her to come back to the boarding house. Finally we just dragged her out of the room to get her back to the boarding house. Elena met us outside and then Matt walked up.

"What's going on?" Vicki took this chance to jerk herself away from Stefan.

"I told you to quit bothering me!"

"No, Vicki, don't do this!" Elena told her.

"Matt, he won't leave me alone!" Vicki whined.

"You need to back off man!" Matt told Stefan.

"Matt, it's okay!" Elena tried to convince him.

"No, Elena, it's not." I was already running after Vicki. I heard Elena telling Stefan she was gone (am I the only observant one here?) behind me. I searched throughout the school, not stopping for anyone or anything. Then someone grabbed my arm and spun me around.

"Hey, Salvatore…" Tyler told me, his words slurring with his drunkenness. I pulled my arm away from him again impatiently.

"Yeah, gotta go." I tried to leave, but he grabbed my arm again.

"Did I ever tell you how hot you are?" He asked, swaying. I yanked my arm away from him again and pushed him towards another girl.

"Hot girl. Go!" I ran off while he was distracted. I ran out of the school into the parking lot for the buses. Vicki was just throwing Elena into a pile of garbage. I ran towards her, but she saw me and disappeared. Stefan ran out behind me.

"Go inside, go!" Stefan told Elena as she got to her feet. I grabbed Jeremy and shoved him towards Elena. They headed for the door while Stefan and I searched for Vicki around the buses. Then we heard Elena scream. I spun around. Vicki was biting into Elena's shoulder. Stefan moved fast, stabbing her through the heart with a wooden stake. I held Jeremy back as he screamed for Vicki. She collapsed on the ground, dead.

"Beth, get him out of here! Get him home!" Elena ordered me. Jeremy was done screaming by the time I got him to Stefan's car. It was actually Zach's but he wasn't using it anymore… I helped him into the passenger seat and then went around to the front seat. I drove him back to his house silently. Luckily, his aunt Jenna wasn't there. He went up to his bedroom and I followed him. He sat down on his bed, pulling his knees up to his chest.

"Jeremy, I'm so sorry about Vicki…" I told him. He looked up and I saw that he was crying. I reached out my arms, offering a hug. He didn't move away, so I hugged him, resting my chin on his shoulder.

"She's…She's dead… Vicki's…dead…" He said quietly. I could feel him shaking. I buried my face into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Jeremy, I'm so, so sorry…" I said into his shirt. I heard someone coming up the stairs. I pulled away just enough to look over Jeremy's head. I saw Elena in the doorway. I stood up and Jeremy looked up. Elena hurried over to him as I went downstairs. I headed out the door. Stefan was on the porch, sitting on the bench they had out there.

"Beth…" He said, looking up at me. I was suddenly aware of tears of my own rolling down my cheeks. Stefan stood up to pull me into a hug. I cried for a minute before I took a deep breath and sat down.

"I hate Damon! He did this Vicki and now Jeremy's…." I sobbed. Then I remembered Zach. I was crying harder just at the thought. Stefan pulled me into another hug and I cried into his shirt instead. Then Elena walked back out to the porch.

"Beth, could you, uh, go sit with Jer? I need to talk to Stefan but I don't want Jeremy alone." I nodded and went back upstairs. Jeremy was right where I'd left him. I sat down next to him and put my head against his shoulder. We sat in silence like that for a minute before I saw Damon come in.

"What are you doing here?" I asked in a growl.

"I'm going to compel Jeremy." He told me. I jumped up from the bed, letting my fangs extend and eyes go black with veins.

"Not happening!" I snapped, growling at him. Jeremy jumped up behind me. I let my fangs go back in and my face return to normal before I looked back at him.

"Compel?" He asked.

"It's a type of mind control. Which. Damon. Isn't. Doing. To. You." I said, glaring back at him. Damon leaned against Jeremy's doorframe.

"Elena told me to." He said. Sincerity showed in his eyes along with a silent 'let me do this'. I looked back at Jeremy.

"I'll be downstairs. Don't screw him up even more!" I warned Damon. I went downstairs and sat down on the last step. It wasn't two minutes later than Damon came back downstairs. I walked out the front door with him. Damon looked at Stefan and Elena on the porch.

"It's done."


	8. 162 Candles

"Beth… Beth…" I moaned and rolled over in bed. The feminine voice sounded familiar, but I was too tired to open my eyes to see who it was.

"BETH!" Suddenly my mattress was flipped over and I landed hard on the floor, I jumped up, fangs out as I looked around the room. The tall blonde girl was laughing from the other side of my bed.

"Lexi!" I cried. I jumped over my bed to hug her. She was still laughing as she returned the hug. I pulled away to look at her.

"What are you doing here?" I asked in disbelief.

"You're big bro's birthday is coming up. I wouldn't miss it! Seeing us was a big bonus though." She bobbed my nose and then took my hand and skipped down the stairs, pulling me with her. As she skipped she called:

"STEFAN! THE THREE OF US ARE GONNA HAVE SUCH FUN FOR YOU'RE BIRTHDAY!"

"So this Elena girl. She'll come around. Have you had sex yet?" Lexi asked Stefan. The three of us were sitting in the living room. I laughed a little. Lexi was already kind of blunt.

"No." Stefan answered.

"Sex always works. I mean, you'll rock her world so hard with your vamp sex, she'll be yours forever!" Lexi told him.

"Yeah, but see this isn't about sex, or compulsion or any of our other tricks. She has to be with me on her own terms." Stefan told her.

"Wow. That sounded all mature and grown-up. Didn't that sound mature and grown-up to you, Beth?" Lexi asked, cocking her head as she looked over at me.

"For a guy still in high school, yes, yes, it did." I agreed. He rolled his eyes at the two of us and we smiled over at him.

"I'm not getting any older." He said. Lexi opened her suitcase and pulled out a blood bag to take a sip. Lexi raised her eyes to Stefan.

"Want some?"

"No… Thank you…" Stefan told her.

"Relax, I didn't kill anyone for it. This phlebotomist I went out with a few times, he's my supplier." She assured him. I gave her a look, trying not to smile. She saw it and tried to hide her own smile.

"Oh, don't judge, little sister!" She said, playfully shoving my legs from where they'd been laid across her lap. I held up my hands in surrender.

"Look, I tried the animal diet, it lasted three weeks." She told Stefan.

"It doesn't matter. Because if I started again, I just don't know if…"

"You could stop?"

"I could never judge you for drinking human blood considering what I've done, Lexi." Stefan said.

"I'm just jealous of you two's restraint. I have none. I delight in hedonism." Lex returned. I nudged her leg with my foot.

"Speaking of which, what are we doing tonight?" I asked her.

"Funny you should ask, little sis." Damon said as he came into the room. All three of us glared over at him hatefully.

"She wasn't asking you!" Lexi snapped. He ignored her.

"There's a party at the Grill. You'll love it. Banquets. Tacky wait staff. All of Stefan's friends…" Damon continued.

"Yeah, I don't want a birthday party…" Stefan protested.

"Well, it's not for you. It's a _party_ party. No one's gonna know it's your birthday. Caroline's throwing it." Damon told him.

"Damon, stay away from Caroline!" I warned.

"We're friends, its cool. It's important for the town to see us out and about like normal folk. We need to blend." Damon said. He saw Lexi's stack of blood bags in her open suitcase.

"I prefer mine at 98.6." Then he walked out of the room again. Lexi and I both turned to Stefan and saw just by his expression he didn't want to go.

"Please?" Lexi pleaded. He shook his head. She turned to me.

"We can both plead together. He can't say no to his best friend _and_ little sister."

Lexi and I walked into the grill together that night. Damon hurried up to us and Lexi's smile turned to an expression of disgust.

"Where's my brother?" Damon asked.

"He said he'd met us here."

"Buy you a…" Damon started to offer. But Lexi was already walking away from him. I smirked at Damon and hurried to follow her.

"Okay, I'm going to need a little more foot movement…" Lexi complained later that night. She and I were dancing but Stefan was not.

"Yeah, really not interested in making a fool of myself." Stefan told her.

"Come on, you're not _that_ bad." Lexi told him.

"Do me a favor. Tell me if you see Damon with his camera phone." He said. Lexi and I exchanged grins and looked back at Stefan.

"Right, of course." We agreed. Then he started dancing. He took Lexi's hand and spun her around and then did the same with me as we laughed.

"Three shots of tequila." Lexi said as we walked over to the bar. She saw Elena sitting at a table and looked back at the bartender.

"Make that four."

"I need to see some ID." Lexi compelled him at once.

"No you don't."

"That'll be…"

"Free!" Lexi said, still compelling him.

"On the house."

"Thanks!" She flashed him a grin as he put the four shots on the counter. I grabbed two of the shots and she grabbed the others. Lexi led me over to Elena. We set the shots down on the counter.

"Oh, the famous Elena!" Lexi greeted her.

"Towel girl." Elena returned. I didn't even want to know the story behind that one. I quickly drank my shot without saying anything.

"I've been called worse. Here." Lexi told her. She slid another shot towards Elena. Elena picked it up but didn't drink any of it.

"I didn't know that you guys could drink."

"Oh yeah, it helps the cravings, but makes for a lot of lushy vampires!" Lexi returned.

"I've never seen Stefan drunk. He's always so…"

"Uptight?" Lexi and I suggested at the same time. We giggled at the fact we'd said it together. Elena joined in for a second before saying anything else.

"Yeah, but not with you, Lexi."

"Well, that's the benefit of knowing someone for over a hundred years. You can just be yourself." Lexi said. She wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

"Yeah, he can't be himself with me…" Elena said.

"Well, not yet… The first step was him telling you. The rest comes with time..." Lexi told her. Elena nodded slowly.

"You seem so sure."

"The love of my life was human. He went through what I imagine you're going through: denial, anger et cetera… But at the end of the day, love really did conquer all." Lexi pointed to Elena's shot.

"You gonna drink that?"

"Go for it." She handed it over, but Lexi just passed it over to me and took the shot that was supposed to be Stefan's.

"Bottom up, little sis!" We took the shots.

"I'm scared." Elena admitted.

"But you're here… You're crazy about him… I get it okay? I mean, what's not to love?" We all looked over at Stefan at the pool table.

"Take it from someone who's been around a long time. When it's real, you can't walk away." Lexi told her. Elena smiled over at her.

"Lexi… It was really nice meeting you." Lexi smiled at her and headed back over to Stefan. I turned to Elena once she was gone.

"How's Jeremy?" I asked.

"Good, actually… He's doing homework; he's going to school every day… I don't know what Damon did, but it worked…" Elena told me. Then her expression turned from happy to concerned.

"About him knowing about you…?"

"I wouldn't tell him unless you wanted me to."

"But Stefan told me about his past and yours-."

"That was different." I protested.

"How? You love Jeremy!"

"I don't!" I protested.

"I see the way that you look at him, Beth. The way you light up when he smiles at you like he's made your eternity just with that… I saw you crying with him that night after Vicki… You love him and I can't argue that you are the best person for him." Elena told me. With that said, she went over to Stefan as Lexi went for the bar again. I tapped my fingers against the table, thinking about that.

"Oh my god!" I heard Stefan say. My head snapped around to see what he was looking at. The sheriff was subtly injecting with Lexi with Vervain. She thanked Damon for the supply and dragged Lexi out. Stefan and I ran after them. Outside, we saw they'd shot Lexi with wooden bullets. We both moved forward as she threw the cops off her. Damon appeared and shoved a wooden stake through her heart. Stefan clamped a hand over my mouth to prevent my scream from sounding.

"Oh my god…" Elena whispered as she ran out behind us. Damon dropped Lexi's dead body to the ground as Stefan hauled me into the ally behind us. He let me go once we were out of sight. The second the cops drove away with Lexi's body, he stormed out of the ally. I was right behind him.

"Stefan! Stefan!" Elena yelled after him, running to catch up.

"He killed her! He killed Zach! He killed Tanner! He turned Vicki! I have to kill him!" Stefan growled.

"No, you can't do that!" Elena protested.

"Why are you trying to save him? Elena, he is never going to change! Don't you see that?! NEVER!" I almost yelled at her.

"I'm not trying to save him! I'm trying to save you! You two don't know what it'll do to you if you do this! Please, Stefan!"

"Everywhere we've been, pain and death follow! Damon follows! No more!"

"Stefan, just talk to me, just-."

"No! You were right to stay away from me Elena!" We darted off, back to the boarding house. Damon was in the living room.

"Told you I'd take care of the counsel on our trail." Damon said as he heard us come inside. Stefan tackled him to the ground. Damon rolled away and stood up. I darted over and decked him, kicking him in the stomach hard enough to send him flying back to Stefan. Stefan picked him up and punched him, sending him flying into a wooden chair, which broke underneath him. Stefan grabbed him again and pinned him against the wall. I grabbed one of the broken pieces of chair and threw it to Stefan. He stabbed him through the chest. Damon tensed but then look shocked at Stefan.

"You missed!"

"No. You saved Beth and me from the counsel. I'm sparing your life. We're even. And now we're done!" He threw Damon to the ground and the two of us darted upstairs.

"Why does Damon always do this?" I sobbed to Stefan as we both collapsed on his bed together. He pulled me into a hug.

"Because it's Damon." The rest of the night was spent in his bedroom, wallowing in our sorrow over Lexi…


	9. History Repeating

_Lexi is dead… I hate Damon for it. Zach is dead… I hate Damon for it. Mr. Tanner is dead… I dislike Damon for it… Vicki was turned by Damon. I dislike him for it. Vicki is dead and Jeremy was upset and Damon had to compel him to forget. I HATE him for it! I have tried not to hate Damon all these years… Now I have no choice but to…_

"Have you tried talking to Bonnie?" Elena asked as Caroline, she and I walked onto school grounds. Apparently Caroline had gotten into a huge fight with Bonnie and Elena was trying to fix it for them. I was staying out of it. I had my own hating-of-a-person to do…

"No. I'm mad at her. She needs to make the first move." Caroline grumbled.

"Be the bigger person." Elena urged.

"Impossible in her presence!" Caroline shot back.

"Why are you so pissed at her anyway?" I asked as my curiosity finally out weighed my own thoughts of hatred towards Damon.

"She's a thief! That's why! I gave her my necklace and she refuses to give it back. It's a matter of principal!" Caroline told me.

"All right, I tried. I'm officially out of it." Elena said.

"I was never in it." I added.

"Jeez, Beth, you got bitter. When we first met you, you were sweet and innocent. Blame Bonnie, she ruined you." Caroline told me. _Blame Damon. He ruined us both._

"Now, Elena, you're turn. Where's Stefan? Have you talked to him?" All Caroline knew was that they'd gotten into a fight. She was kept out of the whole Damon-killed-his-best-friend-in-cold-blood part of it.

"He's avoiding me."

"Why?"

"It's complicated. I'll see you later." Elena steered me away from Caroline and only spoke once we were out of hearing distance.

"How are you guys doing with… you know?"

"Lexi's dead… Stefan's still upset and he's not coming to school today I don't think. I'm upset too…"

"Did you k-… I mean is Damon…?"

"We didn't kill him. We threw him around a bit and then Stefan stabbed in his the chest with a stake, but he made sure he missed the heart."

"Oh, okay… Jeremy's over there if you want to talk to him." Elena said, motioning behind me. I turned and saw him a few yards away.

"Okay, thanks..." Elena walked off and then I hurried over to Jeremy. Jeremy grinned as I walked over and straightened up from where he was leaning against a tree.

"Hey, Beth!"

"Hey, Jer… How ya doing?"

"Good. You?"

"Okay, I guess…." I wasn't going to mention anything with Lexi or Damon or anything else going on with me. He nodded and then wrapped an arm around my shoulders. He led me towards the school.

"You're in a good mood."

"I dunno know… I've just felt… better. It's been a long time since I felt like this." He told me, looking down at me. I smiled.

"Good. That's good… We have different classes." I reminded me as we walked into the school. He pulled his arm back so I could walk away.

"Right. See you later?"

"Of course."

"Bye!"

"Bye."

"Good morning everyone. Alrighty…" The new history teacher said as everyone sat down. He quickly wrote his name on the blackboard.

"Alaric Saltzman… It's a mouthful, I know. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue… Saltzman is of German origins. My family emigrated here in 1755 to Texas. I, however, was born and raised in Boston. Now the name Alaric belongs to a very dead great-grandfather I will never be able to thank enough. You'll probably want to pronounce it 'all-a-rick' but it's 'a-lar-rick', okay? You can call me Rick. I'm you're new history teacher."

After school, I went to the Grill. I didn't want to go home just yet because I knew Damon was going to be there. I saw Jeremy and his aunt Jenna at a table, talking. I listened in curiously.

"I like a man who can dine alone. A quiet strength." Jenna was saying. I followed her eyes and saw she was watching Mr. Saltzman.

"I thought you were still in that whole Logan depression thing." Jeremy said. I saw her grimacing just at the name.

"I've sworn off men forever, but it doesn't mean I can't observe from a safe distance." Jenna said. He nodded, trying not to smile.

"Well, I can introduce you… Hey, give me two seconds." He slid out of his seat and headed over to me, a grin on his face.

"Want to join us?"

"I shouldn't… You're having family time and I'm being bitter today. I think you took my good mood for yourself." I told him.

"Then maybe I can rub off on you. Come on." He pulled me back to the table. I reluctantly slid into the seat next to him.

"Jenna, this is Elisabeth Salvatore. Beth, this is my aunt Jenna." Jeremy introduced us. I held out a hand for her to shake and she did.

"Nice to meet you, Beth." She told me.

"Nice to meet you too."

"So how do you guys know each other? Jeremy hasn't mentioned you at all." Jenna told me, sending an amused look at Jeremy. I looked at him too. His cheeks were burning, obviously not liking this subject.

"Well, we met at the Grill and we've been hanging out at school. With my big brother dating his big sister, it's hard not to know each other. And he hasn't mentioned me at all?" I asked in disbelief, turning to Jeremy again. She shook her head, trying not to laugh.

"Not a word. Elena has mentioned you a lot though. I wonder why he hasn't…" Jenna teased. Jeremy was bright red by now.

"Hey, so, change of subject, how do you like our new history teacher?" He asked. I shrugged and looked over my shoulder at him as his table.

"He's cool, I guess."

"Speaking of history, have you picked a topic for your history paper?" Jenna asked Jeremy. He shrugged it off.

"No, not yet. It's gotta be local and no internet research, so…"

"That's easy. You've got your dad's stuff."

"What stuff?"

"How the Gilberts came over on the Mayflower and all that family linage from way back. You're dad loved all that family history stuff. It's all boxed up in the closet." Jenna explained.

"Oh, cool… Does you're family do that stuff?" Jeremy asked, turning to me.

"Oh yeah… Because my family is one of the founding families, I can trace our history through journals and stuff right back to when the town was built." I told him. _Most of the journals would by my brothers, so it's guaranteed to be accurate. _Just then, Alaric walked up to the table.

"Mr. Saltzman." Jeremy and I greeted him in unison.

"Jeremy, what's up, man? Elisabeth, how's it going?"

"Oh, Mr. Saltzman, this is my aunt Jenna." Jeremy told him, motioning towards his aunt. They shook hands.

"Alaric Saltzman, nice to meet you."

"Jeremy was just telling me about his paper. Thanks for giving him another chance." Jenna told him. He nodded.

"It's my first day. I wanted to make a good impression." Then I saw Damon and Stefan at the bar. I nudged Jeremy with my elbow.

"Hey, I see my brothers; I gotta go talk to them." I told him. I slid out of my seat and hurried over to Damon and Stefan at the bar. Apparently they were imitating each other now.

"Stefan, I've been thinking. I think we should start over, give this brother thing another chance. We used to do it oh so well once upon a time." Stefan was saying.

"I don't Damon. I can't trust you to be a nice guy. You kill everyone and you're so mean. You're so mean and… You're really hard to imitate and then I have to go to a lesser place." Damon took another drink from his bottle of alcohol.

"Can I get a coffee please?" Stefan asked the passing bartender. Then he turned his attention back to our brother.

"So what's with the whole bottle?" I asked Damon, boosting myself onto one of the high bar stools. Damon groaned and took another drink.

"I'm on edge. Crash diet and trying to keep a low profile…"

"You could always just leave, find a new town to turn into your gas and sip." I suggested. He gave me a drunk, amused smile.

"I'll manage. And you two don't need to keep an eye on me."

"I'm not here to keep an eye on you." Stefan told him.

"So why are you here?" Damon asked.

"Why not?"

"Lucky shot." Damon said as Stefan, he and I played darts. Stefan went to pull his darts off the board with a smile.

"More like carefully honed skill over many decades." He handed the darts to me and I stepped up to throw them.

"You're beating me." Damon complained. I threw a dart and it hit dead center of the board. I grinned, just because I knew behind me Damon was grimacing.

"Yeah, it's because I'm better than you." Stefan said. I threw another dart and it hit only half an inch below the first one.

"I'm onto you. Reverse psychology. It's a little transparent, but I admire the effort." Damon said. I threw another one and it hit just above the first dart. I went to pull them all out of the board. I handed them over to Damon.

"You prefer the brooding forehead?" Stefan asked.

"Seriously, what game do you think you're playing?" Damon asked.

"That's a funny question considering I've been asking you that for months. It's frustrating, isn't it?" Stefan asked. I laughed as I sat on top of a nearby table. Damon nodded slowly.

"Touché."

"What are we doing here?" Damon asked Stefan and me as we walked onto the football field of the school.

"Bonding. Catch! Go on, give it a try!" Stefan urged.

"Don't forget who taught you to play this game!" Damon reminded him. Stefan tackled him to the ground and they both lied there for a second.

"That hurt." Damon complained.

"Downside of my diet… getting hit actually hurts a little." Stefan told him. Since they obviously weren't getting up, I went and lied down beside them on the field. Damon reached over for my hand and I didn't pull back when he took it.

"I'm impressed, Stefan. Fun with booze and darts, sentimental football and now starry night… What do you want, Stefan?" Damon asked.

"It wasn't real, Damon, our love for Katherine. She compelled us. We didn't have a choice. Took me years to sort that out, to truly understand what she did to us." Stefan told him.

"Oh no, we are not taking that on tonight!" Damon said.

"What do you want with Katherine's crystal?" Stefan asked instead.

"How do you know about that?"

"Oh please, Damon, did you really think that Elena wouldn't have told him everything?" I asked.

"How did you know it was Katherine's? Emily gave it to her on her last night. I was there, you weren't." Damon told him.

"I was the last one to see her, Damon… Now, what do you want with Katherine's crystal?" Stefan tried again.

"She didn't tell you know?" Damon inquired.

"We had other things on our mind."

"I could rip your heart out and not even think twice about it." Damon said, jumping up. Stefan and I both got up too and I darted between them.

"Don't!" I cried warningly, putting a hand on each of their chests to stop them. Whenever the whole Katherine subject came up, things tended to get violent.

"I've heard that before." Stefan said.

"I have a bigger surprise, Stefan. I'm gonna bring her back."

"How can you bring Katherine back?" I demanded.

"Before Katherine and the others were killed in the church, you remember what it was like in the town?" Damon asked.

"I remember the hysteria…" Stefan said.

"The fear…" I added.

"Townspeople were killing vampires one by one…. When they came for Katherine, I went straight to Emily, said 'I'll do anything, name your price, just protect her' and she did."

"How?" Stefan and I asked in unison.

"She did some kind of spell with the crystal. And while the church was burning and we thought Katherine was burning it, she wasn't."

"But I saw her go inside." Stefan protested.

"There's a tomb under the church. The spell sealed Katherine in that tomb, protecting her."

"Are you telling me that Katherine's alive?" I asked. _If she is, then I will kill her myself for what she's done to all of us…_

"If that's what you wanna call it. She's been trapped in a mystic holding cell for the last century and a half, but Stefan's the expert on starving a vampire. How do you think she's doing, Stefan? Did you know that witches can use celestial events to draw energy into their magic? Me either. But in order to give the crystal its power, she used the comet that was passing overhead and in order for that crystal to work again…"

"The comet had to return." Stefan finished when Damon trailed off.

"Downside… Long time between comets and a couple of hiccups along the way with the crystal, but the comet passed and I got the crystal. And then Caroline got the crystal and now Bonnie has the crystal and here we are!"

"Why would Emily… Why would she do this for you?" I asked.

"Because she knew they were gonna come for her too and she made me promise that her linage would survive."

"I remember. You saved her children…" I said. At the time, it had seemed so strange. He was desperate to save those children when normally he would have been trying to save Katherine… It was all making sense now.

"It's the only thing keeping me from ripping that little Bonnie girl's throat out to get my crystal back. Well… A deal's a deal… So, you wanna throw some more?" He asked casually, holding up the football. Just then, Stefan's phone rang and he answered it. I turned to Damon.

"Katherine is evil! She ruined our lives! Why would you still want her back?" I asked him. He threw the football to me casually. I didn't even try to catch it and it landed a few feet behind me.

"I loved her!" Damon told me.

"No you didn't! She compelled you! She used you! She used you, she used Stefan and she used me! All for her little games! Why can't you see that?" I cried. He couldn't answer before Stefan walked back up.

"Emily is posscessing Bonnie. She's headed for Fell's church." Stefan told me shortly. Damon shot off. We exchanged a look.

"Do you think she's going to release Katherine?" Stefan asked.

"If she does release her and Katherine comes out of that tomb, I don't care what Damon does to me… I'll stake her right then and there." We darted off, heading for the old church. We stopped in the woods near the church when we saw Damon in a tree, a branch through his stomach. Stefan pulled him off.

"It hurts…. This is why I feed on people…" Damon moaned.

"Stefan, Elisabeth…" Stefan and I both turned around to look at Emily Bennett. She was in Bonnie's body, but it was obvious by her expression, voice and posture that it was her.

"Hello, Emily." Stefan said tersely, walking over to stand slightly in front of me.

"These people don't deserve this. They should never know such evil!"

"What do you mean 'evil'?" Stefan asked.

"Emily… I swear to god I will make you regret this!" Damon threatened her, walking over to the other side of me.

"I won't let you unleash them into this world!" Emily said. Stefan and I both slowly turned to Damon.

"Them?" Stefan echoed.

"Did you happen to leave out part of the story?" I asked.

"What does it matter?" Damon asked.

"Emily, tell me what you did!" Stefan demanded, turning back to her.

"To save her, I had to save them."

"You saved everyone in that church?" I asked in disbelief. That had to be at least twenty vampires that had been in that church…

"With one comes all."

"I don't care about them, I just want Katherine!" Damon said.

"I knew I shouldn't have believed a single word that came out of your mouth. This isn't just about love is it? It's about revenge!" I accused.

"The two aren't mutually exclusive." Damon muttered.

"Damon, you can't do this!" Stefan said.

"Why not? They killed twenty seven people and they called it a war battle! They deserve what they get!" Damon snapped.

"Twenty seven vampires, Damon! They were vampires! You can't just bring them back!" I protested.

"This town deserves this!"

"You're blaming innocent people for something that happened a hundred and forty five years ago!" I yelled at him.

"There's nothing innocent about these people and don't think for a second it won't happen again! They already know too much and they'll burn your little grandwitch right next to us when they find out. Trust me!" Damon yelled at Emily.

"Things are different now!" Emily told him calmly.

"Don't do this!" Damon yelled.

"Bonnie!" Elena yelled as she caught up with us. She stopped beside Stefan.

"No!" Damon yelled.

"I can't free them! I won't! Incendia!" She threw the necklace up in the air and it exploded mid-air. With that, Emily left Bonnie's body. Damon darted forward and bit into Bonnie's neck. Elena screamed as Damon shoved Bonnie's limp body to the ground and darted off. Stefan, Elena and I ran to Bonnie.

"She's alive but barely… I can save her." Stefan bit into his wrist and then put it to Bonnie's mouth for her to drink the blood.

"Her neck… It's healing." Elena said in amazement. I left them, darting off in search of Damon. Stefan was right behind me. He wasn't far, only just out of sight. He spoke before we could.

"Katherine never compelled me. I knew everything. Every step of the way... It was real for me… I'll leave now."

I darted back to the house. I expected to find Damon there, maybe convince him to stay here, but he wasn't. I wasn't even sure why I wanted him to stay. Maybe I thought that now that he had no agenda, we could get back to being family… Maybe I thought he could use some comfort since he couldn't get Katherine back… Maybe I just didn't want to lose anyone else.

"Damon!" I yelled uselessly through the empty house. Finally I went to my bedroom, slamming the door behind me. Damon had put it back on his hinges since last time when I had slammed it too hard. I never even thanked him for that… I collapsed on my bed. I heard Stefan walk into the house. I listened to him as he went to his room. I heard the thump of something hitting the wall and then him crying. I had heard Stefan's breakup speech to Elena and I knew they were both upset. I crept out of bed and into his room. He was sitting on his bed. I went silently over and sat down. I hugged him around the shoulders and put my head on his arm. And so we sat in silence…


	10. The Turning Point

"So any idea where you'll go?" Stefan asked as he and I walked into the living room. Damon was there, staring out the window.

"I don't know… London maybe… See some friends."

"You don't have any friends, Damon." I reminded him.

"You're right, little sister… I only have you and Stefan…" He turned around with a big smile on his face. "So where are we going?"

"_We_ are not going anywhere. I'm going to live my life as far away from you as possible and Beth can do whatever the heck she wants to do with you or come with me or go somewhere all by her lonesome." Stefan told him. Damon hurried over to us.

"But we're a team! We could travel the world together! We could try out for 'The Amazing Race'!" Damon said.

"Hmm… That's funny. Seriously, where are you going because we're not staying in this town?" Stefan asked. Yeah, you've made that painfully clear, I thought. Leaving Mystic Falls meant leaving Jeremy… But it was to keep everyone safe and if that was the price I had to pay to make sure Jeremy was safe, I would pay it. Suddenly the doorbell rang. Stefan went to answer it. It was the sheriff, asking for Damon. Damon led her outside to the courtyard. Stefan and I used our vampire hearing to listen in on their conversation about another vampire victim. I flinched when Damon referred to Lexi as the 'blonde one I staked'.

"So I guess we are staying here." Stefan whispered to me. I raised my eyes to his in surprise. He nodded slowly.

"I'm not leaving until I'm sure Mystic Falls is safe." He told me. I nodded understandingly; we were on the same page.

* * *

"Good, you didn't go to school." Damon said as he came up to me later that day. I looked up from my book (a book of depressing poems that I had borrowed from Stefan's room earlier) to look at him.

"Couldn't bring myself to go when I didn't have to on the off chance I had to see Jeremy and explain I was leaving... Why?"

"How do you feel about tracking down that new vampire in town?" He asked with a smile. I raised an eyebrow curiously.

"How?"

"I have Logan Fell's magic vampire compass. It points towards vampires. And I have a little blonde non-vampire to help us out." He told me. As if on queue, Caroline walked in the door.

"I'm here, what?" She asked.

"Seriously, you're compelling her again?" I asked.

"Just for today. Don't have a fit, little sister…" He told me. Then he darted over to Caroline and handed her the compass.

"Walk around the outskirts of town with this. It will point you towards vampires. Once you find the vampire, call me. I interfere with the signal, so I can't be there. Go." He compelled her.

"Why only the outskirts of town?" I asked, throwing the book onto the coffee table and going over to him as Caroline walked out the door with the compass.

"Because it's a new vampire, which means no daylight ring, which means hiding somewhere. I doubt he's in the middle of town."

* * *

"Caroline's calling. She must've found where he's hiding." Damon picked up his phone about half an hour later. He darted off and I followed right behind him. He led me a warehouse just outside town. Caroline jumped at our sudden appearance. Damon held out his hand.

"You can give me that." Caroline put the compass in his hand.

"So why did you need me to do this?"

"We interfere with the signal... You don't." I told her, staring at the warehouse door impatiently, wanting to take down this new vampire. Killing vampires helped with my anger and I still had some anger in me from Lexi's death.

"Can I go now? This has blown, like, half my day." Caroline complained. Damon took her shoulders to look into her eyes.

"You do that. Get in your car. Go home. Forget I asked you to do this." He compelled her. She smiled widely due to the compulsion.

"Okay. Bye now."

"Bye." Damon told her with a smirk. She hopped into her car and drove off. Damon and I walked up to warehouse. Damon swung the door open and we both walked inside. Several gunshots sounded and searing pain shot through my chest. Damon dropped to his knees in front of me, but I collapsed on the ground completely.

"I have tons of these wooden bullets, so nothing funky!" A voice said behind us. He circled around us, a gun aimed at us. I recognized him as Logan Fell, the guy that Damon had supposedly killed during the Vicki-Drama chapter of our lives. I dug into my chest with two fingers and slowly and painfully pulled the wooden bullet out. One of our vampire perks was very high pain tolerance, but getting shot with wooden bullets still hurt like heck…

"You don't want to do this trust me…" Damon said. Logan shot him through the shoulder and Damon cried out in pain. I growled and darted forward at him. He shot me in the stomach before I could reach him and I crumpled. Damon leaned over me to get the bullet out for me.

"That's what you get." Logan told us.

"For what?" Damon moaned as he went to dig bullets out of himself. Logan crouched down in front of us. We didn't try to do anything; even we weren't stupid enough to do something that would end with us getting shot again.

"You made me like this!"

"I killed you… I didn't turn you…" Damon protested weakly. Logan held up a small wooden bullet for us both to see it.

"See, I know who you Salvatore's are. I've been watching the three of you. I knew you'd show up here and I'm glad you did because I had some questions."

"Me first… Who turned you?" Damon asked.

"How should I know? Last thing I remember is I'm about to stake your brother and then you grabbed me. That's it! Until I wake up in the ground behind a used car dealership on highway four. Someone buried me!"

"It happens… Ow!" Damon said as he pried another bullet out of his leg. I had been behind him so he'd taken a lot more bullets than I had.

"You bit me!" Logan said, waving the gun at him. Damon cussed as he examined the bullet he'd pulled out of his leg.

"It had to be you!" Logan said.

"For a vampire hunter, you know diddly squat, don't you? You have to have vampire blood in your system when you die. Neither of us did that… Some other vampire found you and gave you their blood!" I told him.

"Who?" Logan demanded, turning to me.

"That's what I wanna know." I told him. So I can shove a stake through their chest for creating an idiot vampire!

"Dude, it's not like the welcome wagon was waiting with a bundt cake and a handbook! It's been a learn as you go process! You know, one minute I'm a small town on the rise news guy and the next thing I know I can't get into my house because my foot won't go in the door!"

"You have to be invited in." I told him.

"I know. I live alone." Damon and I both chuckled.

"Ah, that sucks…" Damon said.

"So now I'm at the Ramada, watching pay-per-view all day, eating everything in sight, including house keeping!"

"It could be worse." Damon told him as he collapsed on the ground next to me.

"All I can think about is blood and killing people. I can't stop killing people! I keep killing and I like it! I'm conflicted!" He told us. He was starting to sound like a crazy person now…

"Welcome to the club." I told him.

"Wait a minute, the cops only found one body." Damon said.

"I left one… I was tired… But I've been hiding the rest of the bodies. They're right back there." He pointed with his gun to a pile of bodies, dozens of them stacked up in a fenced in pen.

"You're kidding." Damon said as he looked over.

"They're just piling up!" He said with another insane sounding laugh. I pushed myself up to my knees and he pointed the gun at me. I held my hands in surrender, settling back on my heels.

"Why am I so overly emotional? All I can think about is my ex-girlfriend! I wanna be with her and bite her and stuff…" "

Well, you probably love her. Anything you felt before will be magnified now. You're gonna have to learn to control that." Damon told him.

"What about walking in the sun? I'm a morning person. You can walk in the sun. Which by the way is pretty cool. The council will never suspect you! That's not in the journals…" Damon and I both slyly covered our daylight rings with our other hands as he talked.

"The journals?" I echoed.

"Yeah, the founding families, they passed down journals to their kids… Come on, you gotta tell me! How do you walk in the sun?" I considered some lie about magic unicorns that gave us the ability after saving their pet Care Bear, but decided against it. Now wasn't the time for humor when I had a gun pointed at me.

"Who turned you?" Damon asked instead.

"How do you walk in the sun?"

"Who turned you?"

"You know, I've been really nice so far, but I will kill you and your little sister too!" Logan said, pointing the gun at us again.

"Then you'll never know!" Damon snapped. He stood up. He was slightly taller than Logan and looked much more menacing than Logan did. I stood up too, grabbing Damon's arm to pull myself up.

"You're not answering my question." Damon added.

"You first!" Logan said.

"It seems we're at a bit of an impasse then, doesn't it?" I asked Logan with a smirk, folding my arms across my chest.

"I have things to do… People to kill…Guess I'll be needing a little head start…" He shot both of us a couple times and as we fell to the ground, he darted out of the warehouse. I clenched my teeth to avoid crying out in pain. Damon was groaning beside me. I dug the bullets out of my chest and stomach. Damon finished digging his own bullets out before I did and helped me to my feet again.

"You okay, little sis?" He asked. I looked down at my blood covered shirt and pants before raising my eyes to meet his.

"Fine and flipping dandy… Let's go home." We darted back to the boarding house together. I threw myself down on the couch with a moan as we got inside. Damon paced in front of me as he called Stefan.

"Logan Fell is a vampire and when I find him, I'm going to destroy him limb by limb!" Damon said as soon as Stefan picked up. I tuned in my vampire hearing to listen to Stefan on the other end.

"_What happened? Are you okay_?" Damon was already storming upstairs. I hopped off the couch and followed him just to listen to their conversation.

"No! I'm not okay! Little sis and I were ambushed… We were shot!" He complained as he walked into his own bedroom. He held the phone between his ear and his shoulder and ripped off his shirt. His chest was covered with his own blood, but he seemed to have healed completely.

"Now we're vengeful!" I said as I sat down on Damon's bed, knowing Stefan would be able to hear me.

"We just have to find him." Damon added. He looked over at me as he went to his closet to get another shirt. He mouthed 'don't get blood on my bed' to me. I rolled my eyes and stood up again. I darted into my room and in under a second had changed from my blood soaked clothes into a new tank top and jeans. I was still pulling another pair of leather boots as I came back into Damon's bedroom.

"_Well, there's no need. He's here at the school_." Stefan said.

"You're kidding me. Why…" I tuned out, ignoring Damon as I thought about that. Why would he want to be at the school? Then I remembered something. He had been talking about his ex-girlfriend at the warehouse and who was his ex-girlfriend? Jenna. I remembered Jeremy mentioning it to me casually. Who knew it would have come in handy?

"_He's working the crowd._" Stefan was saying when I tuned back into listen to Damon and him. Damon turned to me, a silent question in his eyes. I nodded.

"We'll be right there."

* * *

I darted to the school while Damon went back to the warehouse. I had no doubt in my mind he was going for one of Logan's guns with wooden bullets. I met Elena just outside the school.

"Where's Logan Fell?" I demanded, skipping any 'hey, how you been?' or 'it's great to see you' welcoming comments.

"He was giving Caroline a ride home according to Matt. Stefan just went after him." I turned to leave, but she grabbed my arm to stop me. I turned back, annoyed. Did she want me to go help or not?

"Please, don't let him hurt Caroline." She pleaded.

"I won't." I promised. She let of my arm and I darted off down the road. Logan's car was stopped not too far from the school. Damon had a gun pointed at Logan, who was on the ground. Stefan was right beside him.

"Get her out of here!" Damon told us, motioning towards the car. I got there before Stefan and opened the door. Caroline was unconscious, but didn't seem to be harmed beyond that. I moved aside so Stefan could grab her. Strong or not, I wasn't big enough to carry a seventeen year old girl. Damon grabbed Logan's phone from the car.

"Sheriff? Yeah, it's Damon. She's okay. I'm on Elm Street." Damon said. He looked towards us. We nodded and sped off towards her house. We couldn't get in since we had never been invited in, so Stefan gently placed her on the bench on the porch and sat beside her.

"I'll wait for her mom to get back. I'll come up with a cover story of some sort for why I didn't bring her in… Go find Damon and make sure he hasn't done something stupid." He told me.

"We left him alone with a dude that shot both of us with wooden bullets. Several times. And it's Damon. Of course he's done something stupid!" I reminded him. But I went off to go check on him anyway. He wasn't on the road anymore, but it was easy to track his scent. It led me to the old church. I groaned when I realized where I was. Damon turned as he heard me.

"Seriously? Why are you here again, Damon? And what did you do that Logan Fell guy?" I asked. He darted forward, covering the several yards between us in less than a second.

"Logan said that he can get into the tomb below church. He has another way besides the crystal." Damon told me, excitement in his eyes.

"Damon! Stop this! Katherine used you, Damon! You may have loved her, but she didn't love you! And Logan was probably just trying to keep you from killing him and he doesn't know how to get in!" I told him.

"How would he even know about it then, Beth? How do you explain that, huh?" He asked. His phone rang and he picked it up.

"Hello?"

"_I just wanted to say thank you. I don't know how you did it_." The sheriff's voice sounded pleasantly surprised on the other end.

"Um… Not following."

"_We found Logan's body by the old Fell warehouse. He's been disposed of… He was hoarding victims, innocent victims…_"

"What?"

"_This town owes you so much, Damon. So do I_." The sheriff hung up. Damon turned back to me in shock. I put a hand on his shoulder.

"He didn't know about the tomb under the church, Damon… He was lying to you." I tried to reassure him. The look on his face showed that he didn't believe me. Suddenly, he spun around.

"Did you hear that? It sounded like a car crash and Elena screaming…" He said. We exchanged a look and then sped off towards the road.

**A/N So how is everyone liking the story so far? In later episodes of the season I'll be having more scenes for Beth that wasn't in the TV show. And what do you guys think about her dating Jeremy instead of Bonnie and Jeremy dating? **


	11. Bloodlines

Damon and I ran over to Elena's overturned car. She screamed as Damon dropped down to the pavement to look in the window.

"How ya doing in there?" Damon asked.

"Damon?" She asked in disbelief and confusion.

"You look stuck." He noted.

"It's my seatbelt… I can't get it." She was in tears by now.

"Shh, shh, shhh… Let me get you out of here. I want you to put your hands on the roof. Just like that. Beth, come here and make sure she doesn't knock herself out when I release her." Damon said. I dropped down beside him, ignoring the rough feeling of the pavement. I reached into the car, holding onto Elena's shoulders to hold her steady.

"One…two…three." Damon released her seatbelt. I caught her as she started to fall against the roof. Damon pulled her out of the car and picked her up.

"Are you okay? Can you stand? Is anything broken?" Damon asked worriedly. I hopped off the pavement and walked around him to look at her. She didn't seem hurt, just shaken up.

"Uh-uh." She muttered. Damon put her down. She started to fall and Damon caught her, kneeling down so he could hold her up as she sat down. I kneeled beside her.

"Whoa, you're fading fast. Elena, look at me, look at me!" Damon told her.

"I look like her…"

"What?" Damon and I asked in unison. She fainted, going limp in Damon's arms. He sighed, a sound of confusion and worry.

"Okay, well… Upsy daisy…" He picked her up again and then slowly stood up. He headed off down the road and I jogged after him.

"Where are you taking her?" I asked.

"She might be fun to have with me. We're going on a road-trip. You coming?" I had no idea what he was talking about. But if Damon hurt Elena, Stefan would be devastated. I sighed. I guess I was playing babysitter…

"Sure. Why not?"

* * *

"Morning." Damon said to Elena as she woke up several hours later. We were in his car, driving down a road in Georgia.

"Where are we?" She asked, looking around and suddenly wide awake.

"Georgia." Damon told her.

"Georgia? No, no… No, no we're not in Georgia. Seriously, Damon, where are we?" She asked, looking around again. He looked annoyed now.

"Seriously, we're in Georgia. How ya feeling?" Damon asked.

"I…I…" Elena sputtered.

"There's no broken bones... I checked." I told her, leaning forward from the backseat. She jumped at the sound of my voice, just now seeing that I was in the car with them too. She looked slightly relieved that I was there too but then her expression turned back to worry.

"But my car…there was a man…I hit a man… But then he got up…Who was that?" Elena asked, looking between me and Damon.

"That's what I want to know." Damon said.

"Where's my phone? Okay, we really need to go back. Nobody knows where I am… Pull over. I mean it, Damon. Pull over! Stop the car!" Elena demanded.

"Oh you were so much fun when you were asleep…" Damon complained. He pulled over and Elena climbed out. She started to trip and Damon sped vampire-speed out of the car to catch her. She looked at him strangely when his expression turned to concern. I climbed out of the car and went over to them.

"I'm fine. We have to go back." Elena told him.

"Oh come on, we've already come this far!" Damon complained.

"Why are you doing this? I can't be in Georgia. I wrecked my car. I have to go home. This is kidnapping!" Elena protested.

"That's a melodramatic, don't you think?" Damon asked.

"You're not funny! You can't do this! I'm not going to Georgia!"

"Well, you're in Georgia." I corrected her.

"Without your magic little necklace, I might add. I can very easily make you more… agreeable." Damon told her. I glared at him.

"Damon…" I warned.

"What are you trying to prove?" Elena asked. Then her phone rang. Damon had taken it and now had it in his own pocket. She looked at him questioningly.

"That's my phone." She pointed out. He pulled it out of his pocket.

"Mmm… It's your boyfriend. I'll take it." He answered it. "Elena's phone."

"_Where is she? Why do you have her phone? Is she okay?_" Stefan asked worriedly on the other end.

"Elena? She's right here. And yes, she's fine."

"_Where are you? Let me speak to her!_"

"He wants to talk to you." Damon told her, looking over at her again. Elena just shook her head as she leaned against the car, arms folded across her chest.

"Uh-uh." She said.

"Yeah, I don't think she wants to talk to you right now." Damon said into the phone.

"_Damon, I swear to god if you touch her-_."

"You have a good day. Bye-now." Damon hung up, a smirk on his face. He turned back to Elena, but kept her phone, tucking it back into his pocket. I took my own phone out of my pocket.

"Give me a minute." I walked a couple feet away and hit my first speed dial to dial Stefan. He picked up on the first ring.

"_Beth, Damon has-_."

"I know, I'm here with him. Look, I'll make sure that he doesn't hurt her, but we can't come home yet. Damon is insisting on going somewhere with the two of us. Just trust me."

"_She doesn't have her necklace!_"

"I won't let Damon compel her to do anything, Stefan." I heard Damon calling for me to get in the car so we can keep moving.

"Gotta go." I hung up before he could protest and went to get back in the car.

* * *

"So where's my car?" Elena asked after a long boring silence.

"Beth and I pulled it off to the side of the road before we left. I don't think anyone will both with it..." Damon assured her.

"What about the man in the road? Was he a…?"

"From what we could tell, yeah." I told her.

"You didn't know him?"

"Elena, it's not like we all hang out at the vamp-bar-and-grill." Damon told her. He pulled up in front of a bar.

"Where are we? You brought me to a bar? Damon, Beth and I aren't old enough. They won't let us in." Elena told him.

"Technically, I'm a lot older than you." I told her, annoyed.

"Sure they will." Damon told her. We climbed out of the car and walked into the bar. No one stopped us from just walking in. Damon walked over to the bar and the tall African American woman there hopped over the bar to greet him.

"No, it can't be! Damon. My honey pie!" She grabbed Damon and kissed him. Elena looked greatly surprised. I was sure I looked the same.

"Listen up everyone! Here's to the man that broke my heart, crushed my soul, destroyed my life and ruined any and all chances of happiness!" The woman said as she poured shots for everyone. Damon looked oddly proud of himself for that.

"Drink up!" She said. Everyone toasted to my brother as the woman scooted the shots towards us. Damon and I drank while Elena didn't.

"So how'd he rope you girls in?" She asked, turning to Elena and me.

"He's my brother, not boyfriend." I told her.

"I'm not roped in. I'm actually dating his-." Elena started.

"Honey, if you're not roped, you're whipped. Either way, enjoy the ride!" The woman interrupted with a huge smile.

"Okay… So how'd you guys meet?" Elena asked the woman. That's what I wanted to know. I'd never even heard of this girl before now but they obviously knew each other well.

"College." The woman answered.

"_You_ went to college?" Elena asked Damon.

"I've been on a college campus, yes." Damon said, smiling.

"About twenty years ago, when I was sweet young freshman, I met this beautiful man and I fell in love… And then he told me his little secret and it made me love him more, because you see, I had a little secret of my own I was dying to share with someone." She said. Damon leaned in to whisper to us.

"She's a witch."

"Changed my world, you know…" The woman continued. Damon smirked.

"I _rocked_ your world!" My phone rang and I left to answer it. I stepped outside before I answered it. It was Stefan, of course.

"_Beth, where are you? I need to come get Elena._"

"No, you don't need to come get her, Stefan; we're taking care of her. What did you do to upset her because apparently she's pissed at you?" I asked.

"_She saw a picture of Katherine in my bedroom… She knows she looks exactly like Katherine now._" Stefan admitted.

"And you kept a picture of Katherine why?"

"_I don't know why I kept it, Beth, maybe for memories sake… Look, what do you mean 'taking care of her'?_" He asked.

"I mean she's fine and we'll make sure nothing happens to her." I told him. Elena walked past me to Damon's car, talking on the phone. I listened in to just one word to recognize her Aunt Jenna's voice.

"_You sure she's okay?_" He asked. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm looking at her right now." I told him.

"_Give the phone to her._" He demanded.

"Don't think she wants to talk to you; otherwise she would have called you by now. She has her phone Stefan. Be patient, kay? Yeah, I'm going to hang up whether you like it or not… Bye." I hung up. Elena hung up on her aunt and then her phone rang again. She groaned. Obviously Stefan… I walked into the bar to give her some privacy.

* * *

"Let's just say that I'm descended from Katherine… Would that make me half vampire?" Elena asked as we ate.

"Vampires can't procreate. But we love to try." He popped a fry in his mouth and smirked at her. I rolled my eyes and ate one of my own fries.

"If you were related, Katherine would have to have had a child before she turned into a vampire." I told her, trying to be more helpful than Damon.

"Did Stefan think he could use me to replace her?" She asked us as she carefully picked the pickles off from her hamburger.

"Kind of creepy if you ask me… You don't like pickles? What's wrong with you?" Damon asked. He grabbed the pickles off her plate and ate them himself.

"How can you two even eat? If you're technically…" She trailed off.

"Dead?" We asked in unison.

"It's not such a bad word, Elena. As long as I keep a healthy diet of blood in my system, my body functions pretty normally." Damon told her.

"This nice act… Is any of it real?" She asked.

"Here you go." Bree (the owner and bartender; I'd learned her name) interrupted us, handing a beer over me to Damon. He took it with a smile.

"Thank you."

"I'll have one too." Elena said.

"Hmm?" Damon asked, surprised. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Time out, remember? For five minutes? Well, in that five minutes, I'm gonna need a beer." She explained. Bree smiled and handed her one too.

"There you go…"

* * *

"Ready… Go!" Elena downed her shot faster than Damon or I could down ours. She clapped her hands and did a little dance.

"That's three!" She looked over at Damon and pretended to pout.

"Aw, do you need a bib?" She asked.

"Sorry I can't unhinge my jaw like a snake to consume alcohol, Elena." Damon told her.

"Whatever. Alright, whose next?"

"Elena, you should be on the floor." I told her.

"I'm not even drunk… My tolerance is, like, up here!" She laughed as she jumped up with her hand above her head.

"Yep, you're drunk, all right..." I told her. I turned my attention to Damon as Bree poured another shot for Elena.

"You're explaining this crap to Stefan when we get back, because she'll probably be passed out." I told him. He smirked and drank another shot.

* * *

"Where's your girl?" Bree asked. I was sitting at the bar, eating my third or fourth helping of fries. Damon was beside me, still taking shots. We both looked around the bar for Elena.

"She was right back there." Damon muttered. He got up and headed for the door. I shoved another fry in my mouth and followed. I looked around outside with Damon and saw her phone on the ground. I ran over to pick it up.

"Damon." I held it up for him to see when he turned towards me. He ran over and grabbed the phone from my hand. He looked around again.

"Stay here."

"Why?" I demanded.

"She might have just been stumbling around and she'll go back inside. You can grab her there and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid. Plus I'd prefer not to explain to Stefan why both his little sister_ and_ his girlfriend are drunk and _hurt_ if things go south." I gave him a death look, but went back inside as he walked around the bar. Bree looked surprised as I walked back up to the bar.

"You're…you're not with Damon?"

"No… Should I be?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You were Lexi's friend too, right?" She asked shakily.

"Best friends… How did you know her?" I asked.

"She was my friend too! And your brother killed her! This is just revenge!" Bree almost yelled. _Damon… Crap._ I turned to get out to him.

"Not happening, honey!" Suddenly pain popped into my head. It hurt so much I screamed and collapsed on the ground.

"I can pop blood vessels in a vampire's brain. It won't kill you, but it'll hurt…" Bree told me as she stood over me. I barely heard it over my own screaming. She kneeled down beside me and the pain in my head stopped. I growled, letting my fangs extend and eyes go black.

"And I think it's time for you to leave." She flicked her hand and I flew out the door, landing hard on the pavement outside and rolling. I stopped myself from another roll and painfully got to my feet.

"Beth?!" Damon and Elena ran over to me.

"Oh, hey, apparently some evil guy is coming after you." I told Damon, still holding my head painfully. He took my hands away from my head and looked me over, obviously looking for something wrong with me on the outside.

"Yeah, we took care of him… He's gone… What happened to you?" Damon asked worriedly.

"Bree's a witch. And I'm not referring to the magical kind! Did you know she can pop blood vessels in your brain? And she's the one that sent that guy after you, FYI." I told him.

"I'll take care of her… You two should go sit in the car." Damon said. He stormed back into the bar. I took Elena's arm and led her back to Damon's car. She climbed into the front seat and I hopped into the backseat.

"Is Damon always this… protective of you?"

"Always. Ever since I was born… He's eight years older than me and apparently he thought there was an unspoken rule that he had to defend me with his life no matter what…" I told her, leaning back and still holding my head, even though the pain had stopped.

"I never knew that side of Damon existed…" I looked at her. She was shaking her head in disbelief. I crawled over into the driver's seat to look at her.

"Look, Elena, I know you think of Damon as this evil, bad, horrible guy, but he's not… He's hurt, that's why he does what he does. If you saw him when he was human, or even when he was a new vampire, I'd bet my undead life on it that you would fall in love with him, not Stefan."

"Stefan is better than-."

"Than Damon? Don't ever say that, not to me. You think you know my brothers, but you don't. Not as well as I know them. I've known them since I was born in 1848, Elena, and I have been with them through their good times and bad. I won't talk to you about Stefan… I know you love each other and I will not get in the middle of that. But all vampires do bad things. Stefan's a vampire and he has done things he regrets and I regret for him. Damon has too, I won't deny, but they aren't the Good Brother and the Evil Brother. They're my brothers." Damon opened the car door.

"Yeah, you are so not driving my car, little sis." He told me. I couldn't help but notice his hand was bloody, though he was hurriedly wiping it off with a napkin. I doubted it was his own blood…

"Just keeping your seat warm and talking to Elena, big bro." I climbed back into the backseat. He got into the front seat and drove out of the parking lot. Once we were on the road, Elena turned to Damon.

"So why did you bring me with you?"

"Well, you're not the worst company in the world Elena… You should give yourself more credit." He answered.

"Seriously."

"You were in the road, all damsel-in-distress-like… And I knew if I brought you along, then Beth would come to watch out for you. And that meant that I got to spend some time with my little sis as well… And it would piss Stefan off. And you're not the worst company in the world, Elena."

"I used to be more fun…" She muttered.

"You did okay." Damon told her.

"I saved your life!" She said. I didn't even want to know what she was talking about. Between the hang-over from all the shots I did and the whole witch-blood-vessel-popping thing, I was kind of out of it.

"I know…" Damon said.

"And don't you forget it!"

* * *

The next morning I lied on the couch in the living room of the Salvatore Boarding House. I was half asleep, but not fully. I sat up when I heard Elena running down the stairs. She came over to me. I saw she was crying.

"What did Stefan do?" I asked, standing up.

"Nothing… He…he found out that I was adopted… My parents weren't my parents and…and Jeremy's not my brother…." She sobbed. I awkwardly hugged her. I had no idea why she was telling me this.

"Did you know?" She asked.

"If I did, wouldn't I be the first to tell you? I'm socially awkward, blunt and… as much as I hate to admit, you are my best friend." I told her. She pulled away from the awkward hug.

"Thanks… Sorry, I just needed to tell someone what I'd found out." She mumbled, wiping her eyes. I nodded understandingly.

"I've got to get home… Thank you for the fun day, Beth. And for coming to look out for me." She said. I nodded again.

"No problem, Elena. Be careful."

"I will." She walked out the door, still softly crying as she went. I sat back down on the couch.

"Well this town gets stranger by the minute…"


	12. Unpleasantville

"So tell me, what'cha been up to?" I asked Jeremy. I was foraging in his fridge. I found the cans of regular coke that I was looking for and walked back over to the table. I handed one over to him. He was sketching in a notebook while he talked to me.

"Not much… I'm working on that report for Mr. Saltzman… Where were you?" He asked, looking up at me. I shrugged as I sat down again.

"Road-trip with my brother, actually… We went to Georgia together to a little town outside Atlanta; he had some business there." I told him.

"Ah… Oh, that reminds me… I met a girl the other day that kind of reminds me of you." He said. I raised an eyebrow.

"Huh? Well, I don't like people that remind people of me… It feels like a competition of awesome. And let's be honest: they aren't winning that." I told him. We both laughed at that."

"Nah, she's just kind of weird. And really smart." He told me.

"You think I'm smart?"

"Actually what reminded me of you was the weird part, but sure that too if you want." He told me. We both laughed again. The doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." He got up and hurried over to the front door. The pizza delivery guy was waiting on the front porch.

"Hey. It's gonna be twenty two dollars."

"Elena, I need the money! Uh, here, come in. You can put it on the table." The pizza delivery man walked into the house. Elena ran downstairs. Jeremy came and sat back down across from me. Once the delivery man was out of the house, I looked over at Jeremy. Elena brought the pizza box into the kitchen.

"Careful who you invite into the house." I told him.

"Why?"

"You never know when one is a murderer."

* * *

The next day Elena was telling Stefan in the library about how that vampire she'd hit with her car earlier in the week was stalking her now. Finally I was done listening and went into Damon's room. He was at the Grill, so it was all too easy to grab the vampire compass from his desk. I went into the library and slapped the vampire compass into Elena's hand.

"What's this? Is this Jeremy's pocket watch? How did you get it?" She asked, turning it over in her hand to examine it.

"Logan must've taken it from you guys. Damon took it from Logan. I just took it from Damon. And it's not just a pocket watch. Open it." She opened it.

"What's wrong with it? It got changed on the inside…" The arrow whirled around to point at Stefan and I and she gasped.

"It's a vampire compass. It'll point towards vampires. Keep that with you and you'll always know when one's around." I told her.

"Oh, thanks." She said, surprised I was giving it to her.

"And next time you catch Jeremy, give him this." I held up a leather bracelet with a small silver bead. I tossed it to her and she caught it.

"There's Vervain in it. As long as he wears it, he can't be compelled by a vampire." I explained.

"I already gave her three to give to Caroline, her aunt Jenna and Bonnie." Stefan told me. I nodded.

"Good."

"Thanks for these, Beth." Elena said as I headed out of the library. I waved over my shoulder.

"Welcome."

* * *

The school Fifties dance was that night. I still had an outfit from the fifties so I just dressed in that. It was a black and white poodle skirt and a black and white striped shirt. As it turned out, I had no shoes from the fifties area, so I went in my leather boots like usual. I braided my hair and called it good. I walked down into the library, looking for Stefan.

"If you're looking for Stefan, he just left…" Damon said as he flipped through a book. I walked over and sat down on the desk beside him.

"What's that?" I asked, motioning to the book.

"Dad's old journal…" He muttered distractedly. Stefan's phone rang. He grabbed the phone to answer it before I could.

"Stefan's phone. How may I help you?" Damon asked.

"_Where is he_?" I heard Elena ask on the other end.

"He's on his way to you; forgot his phone." Damon told her.

"_Oh, thank God. The compass was spinning. Stefan must be here. Thank you_."

"You're welcome." She hung up on him. He turned to me.

"Compass?"

"Oh, yeah, I took that from you and gave it to Elena." I told him. He shrugged and went back to the journal. About a minute later, my phone rang. I picked it up once I saw it was Elena.

"Elena?"

"_Stefan, actually… You and Damon need to get over to her house. Now. There was a vampire that attacked her. Probably would've killed her if I didn't show up when I did..._" I looked over at Damon. He nodded, hearing what Stefan had said.

"On our way." I hung up as Damon darted out of the house towards Elena's. I grabbed Stefan's phone for him and hurried after Damon.

* * *

"How'd he get in?" Damon demanded as he paced in Elena's dining room. She stood leaning against the kitchen counter, Stefan beside her. I stood in the archway between the dining room and living room.

"He was invited in…" Elena admitted.

"He posed as a pizza delivery boy last night and-." Stefan started.

"Jeremy invited him inside because he doesn't know about vampires." I finished, remembering what had happened. Stefan nodded to me.

"Well he gets points for that. The vampire, not the punk. Did he say what he wanted?" Damon asked.

"No. He was too busy trying to kill me." Elena snapped.

"And you have on idea who this is?" Stefan asked Damon.

"No." Stefan gave him a skeptical look.

"Don't give me that look! I told you we had company!" Damon told him.

"You think there's more than one?" Elena asked.

"We don't know." Stefan admitted. Damon walked past me and sat on the arm of the couch. Elena and Stefan followed him into the living room. Elena stood next to me, looking uneasy.

"Damon, he was invited in." Stefan said. Damon nodded, getting what Stefan was hinting at. Elena looked at me, confused as to what was going on.

"Then we get him tonight… Elena, you up for it?" Elena looked at Damon.

"What do I have to do?"

"Let your boyfriend take you to the dance. We'll see who shows up." Damon said. Stefan's head snapped over to look at Damon again.

"That's a bad idea!"

"Until we get this vampire, this house isn't safe. Stefan. For anyone in it. You may be able to protect Elena all the time, which even that is doubtful, but you can't protect Jenna and Jeremy. The easiest and smartest thing to do is get him before he can get in again." I reminded him.

"I'll do it." Elena said. Stefan was looking anxious, but I could tell Damon was already thinking up a plan to get this vampire.

"I'll be with the three of you. I'll be safe." Elena reminded Stefan. I sighed and stepped over to him.

"Look, you and Damon can watch Elena like vampire-hawks. I'll make sure no vamp gets near any of her friends, her aunt or her brother. And if we catch the vamp at the dance, I'll help you two take him down."

* * *

"Can't you guys sense each other or something?" Elena whispered to me. Stefan had gone to get Elena some punch like a perfect gentleman and Damon was looking around for any vampires.

"Doesn't work that way. It would be helpful, but it doesn't…" I muttered. I looked around for Jenna and Jeremy. Damon was for some reason with Caroline and Bonnie so I didn't have to worry about them. Once I saw Jenna with Alaric and Jeremy at the punch bowl, I made a mental note of their positions in the room.

"Hey, do you have any pictures of Stefan from the fifties?" Elena asked. I smiled.

"Sorry, Elena; burned and buried."

"Too bad."

"Yeah, you should have seen the hair he had…. And he's back. I'll be somewhere close if you need me." I hurried off, heading for a corner where I could stand without drawing attention to myself. Half my mind watched Jenna and Jeremy (who was talking to a dark haired girl at the punch bowl; I could only see her back) while the other half listened in on Alaric and Damon's conversation.

"Salvatore as in related to Elisabeth?" Alaric asked. I rolled my eyes. How hard is it to just call me Beth like I want to be called?

"Yeah, Beth's my little sister. I'm her and Stefan's legal guardian, hence the chaperoning." Damon answered.

"I hear Stefan's very bright. Not that I've had a chance to see it for myself."

"Well, I know that hiss attendance record's a little spotty… Family drama." Not really a lie…

"No parents?"

"Hmm, no… Just the three of us now." I tuned them out as I watched the black haired girl leave the room. I caught a flash of her face as she walked off. A memory flashed before my eyes.

_Mystic Falls, 1864 I walked out of the house with my brothers and father to meet Katherine Pierce. Her good friend Pearl was right behind her as she stepped out of the carriage. Pearl's daughter, Annabelle, was behind her. Pearl walked over to me as Katherine went to my father and brothers. _

_"Hello, Ms. Salvatore. This is my daughter Annabelle. I'm sure that you'll be great friends…"_

Recognition flashed through me. Was that really her? Shouldn't she be either in the tomb or dead? I grabbed my phone from my pocket, my fingers fumbling in my hurry to get it. I sent my text to both Damon and Stefan. I have to check something out. Watch Jeremy and Jenna. I ran out of the room after that dark-haired girl. I tuned in my vampire hearing, trying to pick up the sounds of footsteps. Once I heard them in the next hallway over, I ran towards the sound. By the time I was in that hallway, there was no one in it. I tuned in my vampire hearing again. This time, instead of footsteps, I heard Elena screaming. I spun around and darted vampire-speed towards the sound. Damon and Stefan were already in the room with the vampire guy and Elena. I walked over to stand by Elena. She gave me a grateful look. The vampire smiled at Damon and rushed towards Elena, too fast for Stefan or Damon to catch him. I grabbed the stake from Elena's hand and thrust it into his stomach, purposely missing his heart. He groaned and collapsed on the floor. Stefan and Damon moved to get in between him and Elena. Elena was looking at me, shocked I had done that.

"Now you feel like talking?" Stefan asked.

"Screw you." The vampire spat. Stefan grabbed the stake and pushed it deeper into his stomach. Elena grimaced and looked away.

"Wrong answer. What do you want with Elena?" Stefan demanded.

"She looks like Katherine." The vampire gasped.

"You knew Katherine?" I asked, stepping forward. He ignored me, staring at Stefan and Damon.

"Oh you thought you were the only ones? You don't even remember me."

"Can't say I remember all the idiot vampire's I've met!" I snapped. Damon leaned down towards the vampire.

"Tell me how to get into the tomb."

"No!" Stefan pushed the stake into his stomach even deeper.

"The grimoire!" The vampire hissed. Even the toughest vampires get talkative when pain is induced…

"Where is it?" Damon asked. When he didn't respond, the stake went in deeper. He gasped.

"Check the journal… The journal… Jonathan's journal… Jonathan Gilbert…" He gasped out.

"Who else is working with you? Who else is there?" Damon asked.

"No! You're gonna have to kill me!" Damon looked over to Stefan, rolled his eyes and then nodded. Stefan grabbed the stake from the vampire's stomach and shoved it through his heart instead. Elena gasped, backing against the wall in shock.

"What do we…. How do we find the others now?" She asked.

"He had to die!" Damon told her.

"But…"

"Elena, he was invited in!" I told her. We heard the door shut outside. We all turned towards the sound. Stefan nodded to Damon.

"Go. I got this."

* * *

Damon, Stefan and I stood in an abandoned hallway of the school. Elena was with Jeremy and Jenna, probably heading home by now.

"There's no way that idiot was working alone." Damon muttered.

"You are." I told him. He shot me a look.

"So the grimoire… That was Emily's right? That's what you need to reverse the spell…" Stefan muttered, obviously deep in thought.

"When the founding families burned her, they took her things. You were hoping to find it through dad's journal." I finished. Damon nodded.

"Look at you two putting the pieces together. Good for you. I was half-right. Well it's out there now. Let the games began!" Damon said.

"My offer still stands." Stefan told him.

"Yeah, with some hidden caveats, no doubt!" Damon snapped.

"No, nothing hidden about it. No lies. No deception. I'm there when you open the tomb, you and Katherine go and the other twenty-six vampires die." Stefan said. I shot him a look that only he noticed. Damon was nodding to himself.

"If I agree?"

"I'll help you." Stefan promised.

"Why should I trust you?"

"Because I'm your brother."

"No, that's not gonna cut it."

"Because I want you gone." Damon thought about this for a minute. It seemed a good enough reason for Stefan to help him.

"Okay." Stefan nodded, sealing the deal. Damon darted off. Stefan turned to go, but I grabbed his arm. He turned back to me.

"Why? Why would you help him get Katherine back?"

"Because I want him gone." He told me.

"You know Katherine! She deserves to rot in that tomb! If we get her out, I doubt she'll even care about Damon. She'll just run off and kill more people! She doesn't deserve to get free, Stefan!" I growled.

"But Damon deserves a chance at happiness." He argued.

"He has had so many chances, Stefan. I have given him so many chances to live with us, to be happy with us. He's the one that brushes them away. I want him to be happy, Stefan, I do. But not if it means freeing Katherine!"

"I know you disagree-."

"What was your first clue?" I asked sarcastically. He gave me one of those 'I'm annoyed and trying not to lose it' looks that I was well acquainted with. He'd given me lots of those looks over the years.

"But you love Damon, right?"

"Don't ever question it!"

"Then help me help him."

"No matter what Damon has done to us... Zach, Tanner, Vicki… Katherine has done worse. I won't let you free her, Stefan!"

"But this will make sure Damon is happy. Just give Katherine another chance." Stefan begged. I dropped my hand from his arm.

"Katherine will be every one of us Salvatore's downfall!" I hissed. I stormed off, already yanking my hair out of the braid. I shook my hair out, letting a few black strands fall over my eyes. I darted out of the school and back to the boarding house. I paused in the living room. Katherine was not going to tear this family apart again…


	13. Children of the Damned

_Mystic Falls, 1864 _

_"Honey, please be careful!" Pearl shouted to Annabelle. She giggled, ignoring her mother as she went to pet a horse. I walked beside her and ran a hand through the horse's mane. _

_"You know, Elisabeth, your brothers are both smitten by Miss Katherine." Annabelle told me with a mischievous smile. _

_"I know… She's making them fight over her." I muttered, running my fingers over the leather bridle on the horse. _

_"Well, they'll be there for a while… Let's go to the barn. You have the most beautiful horses!" Annabelle said, tugging on my arm. _

_"You know that no proper woman goes into a barn to see the animals, Annabelle." I told her. She looked disappointed. _

_"Which is exactly why we're going!" I finished. She giggled again and we hurried off together. _

I woke up with a start. Why was I dreaming about the girl I hadn't seen since 1864? My phone rang from beside me on the pillow. I shook my head to get the thoughts out and answered it.

"Hello?"

"_Hey, it's Elena. You were supposed to meet Stefan and me at my house like half an hour ago… Did something happen? You're not one to be late._"

"I just overslept… I'll be there is a second." I hung up and went to my closet. Once I was dressed in jeans, a faded black t-shirt and boots, I darted over to Elena's house. I sped right through the door and into the kitchen.

"Whoa, you know I have an aunt and a brother here that could have seen you!" Elena said, looking around.

"Sorry." I mumbled.

"You okay, Beth?" Stefan asked me as Elena picked through a box she had on the kitchen table. I nodded silently. I was a little out of it, but it was nothing to tell Stefan about. Elena looked up at Stefan.

"So what do you think will happen if the tomb gets opened and Damon gets Katherine back?" She asked.

"I think that no matter what Damon promises, a lot of people will die…" Stefan told her. I exhaled loudly, a sound of annoyance.

"And I think that Katherine doesn't deserve freedom, Damon's an idiot for wanting her back and she'll be the one killing people." I told Elena.

"You really don't like Katherine, do you?" She asked.

"I would like to slam her tongue in a car door… Shove a stake into her chest just so that she can feel it scraping against that stone cold heart of hers… Kick her through a few walls…Set her on fire and then roast marshmallows with the flames as she burns to the ground…"

"Okay, can you not say that out loud? And when did you turn from nice and sweet to wanting to torture someone?" Elena asked, looking shocked at me.

"I was faking nice and sweet before I was comfortable around you. Now you know about vampires and you are my best friend, so I feel comfortable sharing my plans with you." I told her.

"Oh… Okay…" She said. She picked up a photo from the box and I looked over her shoulder at it. I recognized the man in the picture.

"That's Jonathan Gilbert." I told her. She set it aside and picked up a wooden box. She opened it. I recognized the device inside. A vampire muzzle…

"What's this?" Stefan looked like he recognized it too, but he said nothing as Jeremy walked into the room. Elena shoved it back into the wooden box and then back down inside the cardboard box.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" Jeremy asked.

"Just looking through some stuff. Feeling sentimental… Dad had this old family journal from years ago. I thought I'd dig it up." Elena told him. Jeremy sat down on the kitchen counter.

"Jonathan Gilbert's journal?" He asked.

"Yeah, what do you know about it?" She asked.

"I just did a history report on it."

"Oh, so where is it now?"

"I gave it to Mr. Saltzman. He wanted to see it." He told her. Elena and Stefan exchanged a look. Jeremy motioned for me to follow him as he walked out the front door. I followed and we paused on the porch.

"I was going to the Grill. Want to come with me?" He asked.

"Um… Actually, I'll have to hand you an umbrella for a rain check… I have something I have to do. But, soon, I promise." I told him.

"Sure, of course, see ya around." He walked off. Elena and Stefan came out to join me on the porch.

"We'll get the journal." Stefan told Elena.

"How?"

"Never underestimate the powers of two vampire siblings on a mission, Elena Gilbert." I told her with a smile. Stefan and I gave a quick look around to make sure no one else was watching and then darted off towards the school. Once we were inside the school, we headed for Mr. Saltzman's classroom. I peeked inside through the little window on the door. He was loading a stake gun inside the classroom.

"He's a vampire hunter. Awesome. You play bait; I'll take the other door." I whispered to Stefan. He nodded. I silently went around the corner towards the other door leading into the classroom. I saw Mr. Saltzman shot the stake gun at Stefan, who easily caught the stake mid-air. I darted forward while Mr. Saltzman's back was turned and grabbed him by the throat.

"You shouldn't have done that." I grabbed his shirt and flung him backwards into the desks. He landed on his butt in the midst of several knocked over desks. He scrambled to his feet.

"Have a seat." Stefan suggested, picking up the gun that Mr. Saltzman had dropped on the floor. When he didn't sit, I pointed to one of the chairs in an insisting way. This time he sat at one of the desks.

"What is this? Compressed air? Did you make this yourself?" Stefan asked, examining the gun. He shrugged and tossed it aside. He sat down on the desk in front of Mr. Saltzman.

"Who are you?"

"I'm a teacher." He answered. I walked around behind Mr. Saltzman and put my hands on his shoulders. I could feel the tense muscles underneath the skin.

"Are we gonna have to do this the hard way?" I whispered in his ear, just to scare him. Stefan gave me a 'knock it off' look. I rolled my eyes.

"Well, I was just trying to help speed this along. Fine, I'm done." I walked over to the overturned desk beside the one Stefan was sitting on, hooked my foot under it and swung it upright again with my leg. I moved it over a bit and then sat down on the desk, my shoulder touching Stefan's.

"I'm also a historian… And while researching Virginia, I… I made some interesting discoveries about your town." Mr. Saltzman said.

"So you show up like Van Helsing? Come on. Tell us the truth." I urged.

"My wife was a parapsychologist. She spent her life researching paranormal activity in this area. It was her work that led me here."

"Where's your wife?" Stefan asked.

"Dead. A vampire killed her!" He snapped.

"Easy, there, cowboy. This will end badly for you if this turns violent." I warned. His eyes flickered to me. I raised an eyebrow, warning him to make a move.

"Where's the Gilbert journal?" Stefan asked.

"What do you want with it?"

"Where is it?" Stefan repeated.

"It's on my desk." I looked over my shoulder. All I saw was school papers and a desk lamp. I turned back to look at Stefan and Mr. Saltzman.

"No it's not." Mr. Saltzman looked over me (not hard with my height, even if he was sitting down) at his desk. He looked back at us as I took out my phone. I half listened to them as I typed a text. Despite being born in another century without phones, I was a fast texter.

**Mr. Saltzman doesn't have the journal. Someone took it. **

I sent the text to Damon.

"It was on my desk." Mr. Saltzman was saying when I looked up.

"How long have you been aware of me?" Stefan asked.

"I learned just recently… What about your brother?"

"You met Damon." Stefan said with a nod.

"Who do you think killed my wife?" Mr. Saltzman was getting snappy again.

"Are you sure it was Damon?" I asked, my voice just as snappy.

"I witnessed it!"

"If you're here for revenge against my big brother, this is going to end very badly for you!" I started to stand up but Stefan pushed me gently down again.

"I just want to find out what happened to my wife."

"You just said Damon killed her!" I protested, folding my arms across my chest. Was he stupid or had a short-term memory problem?

"I saw him draining the life out of her. He must have heard me coming… He just…disappeared. So did her body. They never found her."

"Damon can never know why you're here. He'd kill you without blinking." Stefan warned him, getting to his feet. I stood up too.

"I can take care of myself." Mr. Saltzman said, standing too. I scoffed.

"No, you can't, cowboy." I told him. Stefan shot me a look and then turned back to Mr. Saltzman.

"I can help you, if you let me." My phone rang and I backed away to answer it, seeing it was Damon.

"What? I'm busy." I snapped as I answered it.

"_You care about Jeremy?_"

"Yes. Why? What happened?"

"_T__here's a girl who might have Jonathan Gilbert's journal. She knows Jeremy. If she wanted the journal and could steal it right from under the history teacher's nose, she might be a vampire. Do the math, little sis. And get to the Grill. Now._" I hung up and looked back at Stefan.

"Gotta go. You can have a moving, soulful conversation with Mr. Saltzman." I told him. I darted out of the school and to the Grill. I spotted Jeremy with a black haired girl at the pool table. Then I saw Damon at the bar and I hurried over. He saw me and grabbed my shoulders. He moved me a couple steps to the side so I could see the girl's face. I sucked a breath in.

"Annabelle's here." I whispered. Then I growled and started to move forward, but Damon caught my arm and pulled me back.

"Whoa, I know you don't like vampires around the little Gilbert, but we can't let her know we're here. We'll follow her after she leaves, find where she's hanging out and snatch the journal from her." He whispered in my ear. I shook my arm loose from his grip.

"Fine. But I'll kick her butt too. She was my best friend and I thought she died in that church. Then I thought she's stuck in the tomb. No, she's been alive all this time!" I snarled.

"Someone doesn't like betrayal, jeez." Damon turned to take a shot at the bar. I gave him a meaningful look that I knew he saw.

"No. I don't. Especially from the people I love…"

* * *

We followed Anna after she left the Grill, keeping a safe distance behind her. When she walked into her motel room, I darted in after her and slammed her against the wall, wrapping my fingers around her throat. She grabbed a hold of mine, choking me a lot more than I was choking her.

"Okay, I give. Okay!" She released me and I released her. I stumbled back a few steps as Damon darted into behind me. He saw me coughing and looked over at Anna. He cussed under his breath.

"I forgot you were older… You're a strong little thing, aren't you?" She looked between the two of us before fixing her eyes on me.

"I was wondering how long it would take for you to find me."

"How long have you been here?" I asked her, straightening up. I was physically two years older than her, so even being vertically challenged I was an inch or two taller than her.

"I've arrived about half-past comet, watching Damon screw up every chance he had at opening the tomb." She turned to Damon, daring him to say something.

"How did you know about the spell?" He demanded.

"I didn't talk much back then, which means I heard everything."

"So if you've been here the whole time, why are just now crossing paths?" I asked, moving to stand shoulder to shoulder with Damon.

"Ah, tag-teaming me. Trying to intimidate me… You know, I always knew that you, Elisabeth, and Damon were much closer than you and Stefan. To the outside world, you and Stefan were the perfect siblings, born only a year apart. Close as can be… But I knew you were always just one of Damon's fangirls. That's a word they use now, by the way. It's pathetic, but I kind of like it. Anyway, to answer your question, I like to use others to do my dirty work."

"Like Logan Fell?" Damon asked.

"Yeah, thanks a bunch for that one. Little jerk-face shot me…" I muttered.

"Logan was an idiot." Anna agreed.

"We slipped him some blood when he started going all poser slayer with that compass. I needed his family's journal; I couldn't let him die." She added to answer Damon's question.

"What did you want with the Fell Journal?" I asked.

"I thought it contained the location of the witch's spellbook. I was wrong. According to her journal, Honoria gave the grimoire to Jonathan Gilbert. And according to this-." She pulled the Gilbert Journal out of her bag. "He gave it to your father. So now you're going to help me find it."

"Why would I help you?" Damon asked.

"Cause you and I both want that tomb open." Damon grabbed the journal from Anna and read the page she'd flipped to. He closed it and put it on the counter beside him.

"Sorry I work alone." He told her. He darted out of the motel room. I gave Anna a smirk and darted after him. I caught up with him at the grave yard, by our father's grave. I'd been here before. Sometimes to apologize for being the monster he always hunted but more often to rub it in that I was still alive after all these years. Well, more or less alive.

"Well, what do you know?" Damon asked as I caught up to him. Stefan and Elena had dug up the coffin and had the grimoire. Stefan was holding the grimoire and was closest to us. Elena stood on the far side of the grave.

"This is an interesting turn of events." Damon snarled.

"I can't let you bring her back. I'm sorry." Stefan told him.

"So am I… For thinking for even a second that I could trust you!"

"You're not capable of trust. The fact that you're here means you read the journal and you were planning on doing this yourself!"

"Of course I was going to do it myself, because the only one I can count on is me. You made sure of that years ago, Stefan!"

"But you… you had me fooled." Damon told Elena.

"So what are you going to do now? Because if you try and destroy that, I'll rip her heart out." Damon told Stefan, still staring at Elena.

"You won't kill her." Damon nodded, knowing Stefan was right. He vamp-sped over to Elena and grabbed her in a chokehold.

"Damon!" I protested.

"I can do one better!" He bit into his wrist and fed Elena his blood, managing to get some in her mouth despite how she was struggling.

"Give me the book, Stefan, or I'm snapping her neck. Then you and I will have a vampire girlfriend."

"Let her go first!" Stefan demanded.

"The book!"

"I'm not going to give this to you until she is standing next to me!"

"Problem is, I no longer trust that you'll give it to me!"

"You just did the one thing that ensures he will!" I reminded him. I grabbed the book from Stefan, holding it out in an offering to Damon, but far enough away he couldn't grab it.

"Okay…" Stefan said, nodding to me. I put it down on the ground. Damon shoved Elena away. She jumped over the grave and into Stefan's arms. I kicked the book to Damon and he caught it. Damon darted off once he had it. I turned to Stefan as he cradled Elena in his arms.

"Really?" I motioned towards the dug up grave.

"I thought we were on the same side?" I asked.

"You're working with Damon!"

"I was being you little spy! I was trying to help you! I am tired of being used by both of you! You guys want to kill each other over Katherine? Again? Fine! But for once, leave me out of it! I'm done!" I darted off, heading for the boarding house again.

* * *

Once I was at the boarding house, I slammed the front door behind me and then sat down on the stairs head to the second floor. I put my head in my hands and thought back to 1864.

_Mystic Falls, 1864 _

_I pulled my hair out of my braid and smoothed it out as I prepared for bed. Then I heard shouts from the hallway. I hurried out, wondering what could be going on. Damon and I ran into Stefan's bedroom. _

_"No! Don't take her!" Damon cried as two men carried Katherine out of the room, a muzzle around her mouth. Father slammed him against the wall to hold him back. I grabbed Damon's arm to get his attention. _

_"Do you know what they'll do if your branded as a sympathizer, Damon? They'll kill you!" I reminded him. He shoved father away and grabbed me by the shoulders to stare me in the eye. _

_"Then let me be killed." _

I looked up again at the empty room in front of me, ignoring the tears running down my cheeks. I brushed my hair out of my eyes, thinking over later that night.

_"Damon! Damon, stop!" I cried as I ran after him. The men loaded Katherine into a cart and drove off. Stefan grabbed Damon to stop him from running after them. _

_"Stop. I'll help you. We'll get her back!" Stefan told him. Damon shoved him away just as I caught up. Stefan stumbled back into me, almost knocking me over. I caught myself on Stefan's arm. _

_"Help me?! Don't you think you've done enough? You promised you wouldn't tell him!" Damon yelled. _

_"I didn't think this would happen!" Stefan protested. _

_"You did this! This is your fault!" Damon ran off, leaving Stefan and me in the middle of the road, alone. I looked at Stefan. _

_"This… This isn't your fault!" I tried to convince him, though my voice shook, giving away my true thoughts about the matter. It wasn't all his fault... He did it with good intentions. __He looked at me, slowly, deep in thought. _

_"Yes it is. Damon will hate me, no matter what happens tonight." _

_"I know… But I won't!" I tried to think of some good news. He nodded to me, a small smile replacing the grim look on his face, though it faded quickly. _

_"I know that, Elisabeth. And I believe that father will hate us after this night as well. It's just the two of us now… We must stick together." I nodded as I took Stefan's hand in my own. _

_"Always." _

_"Get back to the house. I have to do something to help." _

_"But-." _

_"__I'll be back. Go."_

I snapped out of the memory. That was the night that Stefan destroyed Damon's trust, but also the night that we forged our 'always' promise. We'd only been separated once or twice since 1864, when Stefan played human and went off to some war. During that time, I would always stay with Lexi and we'd both celebrate his return soon enough… I got up from the stairs and silently went to my bedroom. I collapsed on my bed, crying into my pillow. Finally, I fell asleep once more.


	14. Fool Me Once

**A/N Booklover457, I will explain Beth's story about how she got turned, however it won't be for a while. It's actually a big part of season two! **

My phone ringing woke me up. I moaned and rolled over in bed. I picked my phone up to see who it was. Stefan.

"What? I'm mad at you."

"_Anna took Elena._"

"And?"

"_You too? I already had this talk with Damon, but I expected you to be a little more concerned!_" I was already getting out of bed.

"I meant 'and' as in what else do you know, not as in I wasn't concerned! Don't throw me under the blame bus so quickly, Stefan! What do you know?"

"_Just that Anna took her. I've been searching the streets all night but I don't know anything else._"

"Fine… Where are you?" I asked, shoving my feet into my boots.

"_Downstairs._"

"Seriously?" I asked. He was calling me on a phone when he was one floor down? I slipped my arms into my leather jacket.

"_According to Damon you have a nasty habit of attacking people you're pissed at if you wake them up_." He told me. I hung up and darted downstairs. Stefan gave me a forced smile as he saw me. His phone rang and he looked down. I could see Elena's number on the screen. He pressed a button and put it to his ear.

"Elena? Are you okay?" I brushed my hair aside and listened in on the other line.

"_She's fine. For now. Tell me you have the grimoire and she'll stay fine._" Anna. Damon walked into the room and leaned against the doorframe. Stefan glanced at him.

"I can get it!" He said quickly.

"_Which means your brother has it. And I have the witch. So one of you had better meet me in the very public town square in thirty minutes so we can safely discuss how fun it's going to be to work together._" With that said, Anna hung up on Stefan. We both looked over at Damon.

"Go ahead. Grovel again. Oh wait, no… I don't care!" Damon left the room again with a smirk.

"I'll go to the town square. You need to get that grimoire." I told Stefan once Damon was gone. He gave me a questioningly look.

"Beth… This vampire is older than you and that means she's strong-."

"She's older than you too and despite my looks, I'm as tough as you. I'm done being told what to do by my annoying big brothers." I told him.

"But-."

"Bye." I walked out the front door. I darted half the way, to the edge of town, and then walked human pace; I did have twenty-five minutes to burn. I got there early anyway and saw Anna with Jeremy. I bit back a growl, sat down on a bench and listened in.

"So you're finally ready to go out with me?" Anna was asking.

"It's been a while since I've been to a party and I kinda want to get back out there. And not be such a… loner. And I like you-." I tuned him out, growling quietly. So Anna came here and is going to take over the town and take Jeremy Gilbert from me? Then Anna came over to me and sat down next to me.

"Got a hot date or are you just planning on nabbing the entire Gilbert family?" I asked as if I hadn't heard what had happened.

"A party in the old cemetery. Isn't that nice of them? Lots of warm bodies for starving vampires." Anna said too cheerfully.

"If one human dies from a vampire, Annabelle, I will kill every vampire that I'm not related to." I threatened.

"Hmm…"

"Stefan will come after you, Anna, you know that. For messing with Elena." We both stood up and folded our arms across our chests.

"Then he won't be happy if I kill her when I don't get what I want." She hissed at me. She turned just as Damon darted in front of her. She took a step back, almost bumping into me.

"When do you want to do this?" Damon asked.

"God, it's like 1864 all over again. You Salvatore boys are truly pathetic when it comes to women… Tonight. After sundown. Meet at the church." Anna left and Damon looked over at me.

"I thought you worked alone?" I asked.

"I do. But this is for Elena _and _Katherine. Will you help me?" He asked. I raised an eyebrow. He knew from that one motion what I meant.

"I don't trust Anna as far as I can throw that little girl. You, however, I trust with my life. If she screws us over, I want you to be there so we can take her down together." Damon told me.

"Fine… I'll work with you just for tonight." I told him. I turned to leave, but he caught my arm and spun me around to face him.

"When did I become the enemy?" He demanded.

"I think we all turned against each other the second we became vampires, Damon… Blame your lover girl for that one!" I pulled my arm back. He walked off, gritting his teeth at me. I turned and almost ran into Jeremy.

"Your brother giving you trouble?" He asked. I shook my head.

"Just a little argument. Nothing I can't handle. Why the sudden concern?" I snapped. He looked taken back by that.

"What did I do recently?" He asked.

"Ask Anna. You seem to have found your dream girlfriend." I growled.

"Whoa! I asked her out, but it's not like we're going serious!" He said, suddenly defensive, as he should have been. My phone buzzed in my pocket.

"Gotta go." I told Jeremy as I grabbed my phone. I looked at the number as I walked away. Stefan. I picked it up.

"What?"

"_I found Elena and Bonnie and I figured you could use this vampire to get out some of your recent anger._" He told me quickly.

"Where are you?"

"_At the motels at the edge of town_." I darted over there and found him beside one of the last rooms. We both hung up our phones.

"You ready?"

"Well, kissing vampires' feet isn't what my lipsticks' for." I told him. He kicked in the door and we both darted in. The vampire screamed as the sunlight burned him. Elena and Bonnie ran over to Stefan.

"Go." I shot at him. He, Bonnie and Elena hurried out as the vampire curled up in between the two beds to avoid the sunlight. I threw open the curtains to let even more sunlight into the room. I walked over to the vampire.

"When the sun goes down, you'd better leave town. If I ever see you again, I'll kill you." I told him. He was halfway under the bed.

"Are you that Salvatore girl Anna warned me about?" He asked. I smirked.

"Honey, I am worse than anyone tells you. If you don't believe me, stay here after tonight and I'll show you how bad I can be!" With that said, I darted out after Stefan, Bonnie and Elena. They headed for Bonnie's grandmother's house while I went back to the boarding house.

"You still gonna work with me, little sis?" Damon asked without turning around as I walked into the living room.

"Unlike some people, I don't fool people."

"You fooled me last night."

"That was Stefan and I was not involved in him getting dad's journal!" I protested. He nodded slowly, finally turning around to look at me.

"Sure, I believe you." He said sarcastically.

"There was once a time where I would tell you something and you would really believe me." I reminded him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, let's go back and be BFF's!" He said in a high pitched voice I assumed he thought I sounded like.

"This is why you don't have a family anymore, Damon!" I turned on my heel and headed for the stairs.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"My bedroom. Leave me alone. I have to get into an outfit that says 'I'll be in a tomb tonight' rather than one that says 'small town girl on a mission'." I yelled over my shoulder. I heard an annoyed sigh behind me from my brother. I smirked and went into my bedroom.

That night I made a wide circle around the party to get to the tomb unseen. Stefan, Bonnie and her grandmother were already there, waiting.

"What is that?" Bonnie asked, motioning towards the gasoline cans.

"Everything we need to destroy them." I answered for Stefan. She jumped, not realizing I had walked up. Her grandmother didn't. She simply looked over at me.

"Beth Salvatore." I said, sticking out a hand to her.

"I know who you are." She looked at my hand for a moment before taking it. "And I know you're trustworthy as far as you Salvatore vampires go... Sheila Bennett." She shook my hand.

"Are you sure that your brother will come?" She directed this question at Stefan instead of me. We heard a whistle behind us and we all turned towards Damon.

"Siblings. Witches." He greeted everyone. He walked past us, waving the grimoire in the air so we could all see it. Elena trudged along behind him and stopped by me. Damon descended into the tomb.

"Everything okay?" I asked Elena.

"I just want to get this over with. Are we ready?" She asked Bonnie. Bonnie looked over at her grandmother and then back at us.

"I guess so…" We all went into the tomb. Damon, Stefan, Elena and I stopped at the bottom of the stairs while Bonnie and her grandmother went onto the room below. I saw what I assumed was the doorway to the tomb itself. Damon and I stepped back from everyone else as he took a blood bag from his pocket.

"What's that?" I asked, eying the bag.

"It's for Katherine. Gotta have something to get her going…" He whispered. He looked over at Elena. "Unless you're offering a vein to tap!" He said louder. She shot him a look, not amused. He turned back to me and dropped his voice into a whisper again.

"Admit it, even you, my loyal, darkly beautiful-." He picked up a strand of my black hair, twirled it around his finger and then let it drop again it. "-little sister can't wait to get rid of me."

"Stefan can't wait to get rid of you. You know what I want?" He raised an eyebrow, curious.

"For Katherine to be dead and for you to stay here with me, like we were actually siblings and not minions you manipulate when you have some dirty work for them to do!" I hissed.

"We're ready." Bonnie interrupted us. We both stepped back down, Damon standing near Stefan and me right next to Elena. Sheila and Bonnie both started chanting something I couldn't understand.

"What are they saying?" Damon asked.

"Sounds Latin." Stefan replied.

"I don't think its Latin." I disagreed. We all looked at each other and shrugged it off. Elena gave me an oddly pleased look. I assumed she was happy we were acting like siblings for five seconds. The torches flared up suddenly and Elena reached across me to grab Stefan's arm. I rolled my eyes and moved over to stand by Damon so she could cling to Stefan. The door to the tomb creaked open.

"It worked!" Bonnie cried.

"Of course it worked!" Sheila snapped as if she was offended Bonnie had thought it wouldn't.

"We have some fires to build." Damon whispered to Stefan and me.

"I'm gonna get the gasoline. I'll be right back." He hurried out of the tomb and I followed.

"Last chance to just kill Katherine." I reminded him.

"Beth…" He gave me a warning look and I shut up.

"Dark down there?" A voice asked as Stefan went to the cans of gasoline. We both turned. The vampire I'd threatened earlier stood a few yards behind us, grinning like an idiot. An unconscious Jeremy was at his feet. I started forward, fangs out, but Stefan grabbed my arm to hold me back.

"I thought I told you to leave!" I growled.

"I considered it. Then I thought: screw you!" Stefan grabbed my other arm and I tried to get forward again.

"Hey, hero." Stefan turned. I recognized Anna's voice, but I didn't turn to look at her. The other vampire gave me a smirk.

"I'm going down there to get my mother!" Anna said from behind me.

"I can't let you do that." Stefan told her.

"Well, Ben's about to make a main course out of Elena's little brother. You guys can stop him, or me. Your choice…" 'Ben' picked up Jeremy and let his fangs extend. I ignored the fact that Anna was in the tomb and sped towards Ben. I knocked him down to the ground.

"You guys don't feed on humans! You're not strong enough." He spat at me. I easily pinned him to the ground.

"But I'm a lot older than you and very pissed off. That kind of makes the difference." I told him.

"Beth!" I knew what Stefan wanted just by my name. I threw Ben towards him and then ran over to Jeremy as Stefan lit Ben on fire. I checked Jeremy's pulse. It was still there and I could see he was breathing.

"Come on!" Stefan called to me. I got up from the ground and we ran into the tomb again.

"Where's Elena?" Stefan asked at once, looking around.

"Damon took her inside." Bonnie answered. Stefan ran towards the entrance to the tomb, but Sheila grabbed his arm.

"Stefan, if you go in there. You won't come out." Sheila told him.

"What did you do?" I demanded, stepping forward.

"Some seals are to keep vampires from entering. This one is to keep them from coming out."

"Elena's human. She can come out. Anna can't… Katherine can't… Stefan! Damon can't!" I cried.

"I told you. I protect my own. Elena can get out. That's all that matters." Sheila said calmly. Then we heard Elena screaming from inside the tomb. Stefan shot into the tomb. I made to follow, but Sheila caught my arm like she had with Stefan.

"You can't come out once you go in there." She warned.

"But my brothers are in there! Let go!" She dropped my arm and I sprinted into the tomb after them. It was dark and I stumbled around, trying to get my bearings. Suddenly someone hit me dead on. I let my fangs extend.

"Beth?" Elena.

"Come on. I'm right behind you." Stefan's voice said. My eyes had adjusted enough for me to see the shapes of Elena and my brother. We went back to the exit and I pushed Elena out before an invisible wall blocked me.

"I'm going after Damon… Tell him what happened." I whispered to Stefan. I darted off, making my way through the tunnels trying to find Damon, leaving Bonnie and Stefan to explain to Elena why we couldn't get out.

"Damon! Damon!" I called, running through the dark tunnels. Finally, I found him, in the last tunnel of the tomb.

"She's not here."

"What?" I asked, not sure if I had heard him right. Not here?

"She's not here!" He threw the blood bag he was holding against the wall and the blood splattered against it. Katherine wasn't in the tomb? Then… she'd been alive all these years? Was that what really happened?

"Damon, we have to go!" I told him. I reached out and grabbed his arm. He ignored me; like I wasn't even there.

"It doesn't make sense… They locked her inside." Damon whispered to himself. I tugged on his arm. He didn't move.

"If we don't leave now, we never will!" I told him.

"How could she not be in here?"

"It's not worth spending all of eternity down here! She's not worth it!" I cried, dropping his arm.

"NO!" Damon punched the rock wall beside my head and bits of rocks rained down to the floor. I had to wonder if he'd been aiming for me, but just missed.

"Damon!" We both turned as Elena and Stefan ran up. Damon looked at Elena and then looked around again. Then he grabbed my arm and pulled me along as we ran back towards the exit.

"Go." Damon pushed me out of the tomb, turning only to make sure that Stefan and Elena were right behind us before he followed. Just as we came out, the torches around Bonnie and her grandmother died out. The spell was back up. I ran out of the tomb and over to Jeremy.

"Is he okay?" Elena asked, running after me. We kneeled beside him. He groaned and turned his head but didn't wake up.

"He's fine." I assured her. Damon came out of the tomb behind us. Elena went over to him and hugged him, though he didn't hug her back.

"I'm sorry." She told him quietly. Once she released him, he darted off again. She looked towards me, a silent question in her eyes.

"He'll be fine… In time." I looked back at Jeremy. He was slowly waking up.

"I'll take him home." I told Elena. She nodded and smiled gratefully, though it was a little forced. I couldn't blame her.

* * *

Later at Jeremy's house, I handed him a cup of water and an Asprin.

"How's your head?" I asked, sitting down at the foot of the bed.

"Uh… okay… I just, I wish I knew how I passed out. I didn't drink that much, I swear!" He told me. _Talk to Anna about that_, I thought bitterly. But I smiled.

"I believe you. And you don't remember anything?" _That I should compel out of you before you start running around screaming about vampires?_

"No, the whole thing's pretty cloudy… I know how this looks. I'm sorry."

"You're explaining yourself and apologizing to me… why?"

"Well… I'm half afraid you'll tell my sister-."

"Already done." I admitted.

"Great."

"She knows it's not your fault. She won't be mad at you." I assured him.

"Okay, um thanks… And you are my best friend. Your opinion of me matters." He told me.

"I thought Anna was your best friend?" I said, getting to my feet.

"Oh, don't do that, Beth!" He complained.

"What?" I demanded.

"That jealous girl thing."

"I'm not jealous!"

"Yes you are! It shows! And you're my best friend and Anna is…a friend." He told me. I half smiled, seeing how sincere he was.

"Fine… I believe you. I'd better be getting home though. You need anything else?" I asked.

"Nah, I'm good."

"Kay, well, I heard your aunt come in, so she's here if you do need anything… And, I'll be going." I walked out of the bedroom and quietly went down the stairs. His aunt Jenna met me by the door.

"You are not good at sneaking out of boy's bedrooms."

"What? Whoa! No, not what it looks like!" I said quickly. She laughed, enjoying my look of shock.

"I know. I'm teasing you. Have a good night, Beth." I sighed in relief and returned the 'good night'. I headed out the door and walked down the sidewalk. Once I was sure no one was watching, I darted back to the boarding house. Stefan and Damon were sitting on the couch together, not talking but just staring blankly at the fire. I stripped off my jacket, boots and socks and sat down in between them, putting my head on Damon's shoulder.

"Last time that Anna saw Katherine was in nineteen eighty three… She knew where I was… She didn't care…" Damon muttered. I looked up at him.

"I'm sorry, Damon." _That Katherine is a piece of a crap_, I added silently in my head. He nodded and then the silence returned.


	15. A Few Good Men

It was a week or so since we had been in the tomb. As I expected, I came home to Damon and a group of sorority chicks. I flipped on the lights.

"Buzzkill!" Damon complained. I went over to the stereo and turned off the music. All the girls groaned.

"Can we talk?" I asked him.

"Yeah."

"Without the drunk girls, preferably."

"Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of them. They're really good at keeping secrets."

"Damon…" He rolled his eyes at me and we went over to a corner to talk. I couldn't get one word out before he was talking instead.

"You're worried about me, aren't you little sis? That's nice. But don't be. There's no need. I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be? I spent the last one hundred and forty five years with one goal: get in that tomb. I succeeded! Granted, Katherine wasn't in that tomb, but why dwell? You know, it's liberating not having a master plan because I can do whatever I want!"

"You're fine? You're drunk, you have like seven college girls in our living room and you haven't been out of the house since the tomb. And as for being able to do whatever you want, that's what I'm afraid of!" I hissed.

"Relax. I haven't killed anyone in…" He sighed. "Too long."

"Those girls?" I nodded towards the sorority chicks.

"Will end up in their dorms with a headache thinking they've blacked out. Business as usual. Predictable you didn't pull me over for a pep talk. You're too serious for your age." He looked me over in drunken disappointment. "So drink up and spill it, sister." He pushed the bottle of booze he was holding into my chest. I took it and put it on the table beside me without hesitation.

"There's a woman you may have known a few years back named Isobel in North Carolina at Duke." I decided it was better not to tell him I was here for Stefan. If I had learned anything about my brother in my lifetime it was that he responded better to me than to Stefan.

"You wanna discuss the women of my past now? Seriously?" He asked.

"You killed her."

"What's your point?"

"I just wanna know if you remember anything about her?"

"That's a needle in a haystack, young Elisabeth Marie Salvatore…"

"How drunk are you to refer to me like that? It is not eighteen sixty four anymore, Damon! Snap out of it!" I snapped my fingers in front of his face. "And think hard, it's important." I added the second sentence as an afterthought, remembering why I was talking to him in his state of mind.

"Nothing is important. Not anymore." He whispered. He grabbed the bottle of booze from the table beside me.

"Damon, do not go off the deep end!" I warned in a growl.

"The deep end is so far in my past, I hardly remember going off it, sis. Great chat, but I've got to get back to my girls." He walked off. I rolled my eyes and then walked out of the house again, leaving him to do what Damon did best: be a first class jerk. I texted Stefan as I walked down the long driveway.

**Damon wasn't being helpful. You got anything? **

I sat down on a tree stump to re-tie the laces of my high-tops while I waited. My phone buzzed seconds later, signaling a text had been received.

**I think that Elena's birth mother might be Alaric's dead wife. **

I hoped he knew how to sugarcoat this when he told Elena… Wow… Is there anything this town that can be considered normal?

**What are you going to do? **

I straightened up again and paced as I waited for his response.

**I'm meeting Alaric at the town square. You want to help? **

I grinned to myself.

**Wouldn't miss it. BRT. That means be right there, for the record. **

**I'm smart enough to know what it means, Beth.**

**Just checking, big bro. I know you're behind on the times. **

I laughed at our texts and then darted to the town square. I purposely went up behind Alaric as he spoke to Stefan and grabbed his shoulder. He jumped and spun around.

"Oh, good… Ms. Warm-and-Fuzzy is here too!" He said sarcastically. I shrugged.

"Been called worse. What are we talking about?" I asked.

"About his wife Isobel being Elena's birth mother." Stefan told me.

"Ah… So where do you stand, Mr. Van Helsing?" I asked. His lip twitched, wanting to smile at my new nickname for him, but contained it.

"I think that it's true, as much as I hate it because she never told me... Does Elena know about this?" Alaric asked Stefan. Stefan folded his arms across his chest and sighed.

"About your wife?" Stefan asked.

"About everything… About you, about her-." He jerked his head towards me. I smirked. "about your brother."

"She knows what I am and she knows that you know about vampires." Stefan said.

"Does she know about Damon and Isobel?"

"No. I couldn't tell her; not until I was sure."

"You said you'd help me!" Alaric snapped.

"I asked Damon without saying too much. He doesn't remember." I told him. He turned to me, a stern-disapproving-teacher look I thought was very annoying.

"Ask him again." He said coldly, like it was an order that he expected to be done right away with a click of my heels, a salute and a 'yes sir!'.

"Damon is not stable right now." I returned his cold tone.

"You know, he murdered my wife, or at the very least made a meal out of here. When has he been stable?"

"I am telling you not to push this." I warned. I of all people knew what Damon was capable of when he gets pissed off. Alaric, however, obviously didn't.

"Give me a reason not to!"

"You're survival. How's that for a reason?" I snapped.

"Look, if anyone can handle this, it's Beth. Damon likes her a lot more than he likes me and he'll talk to her if he knows anything. She'll handle it, but right now I need you to let it go." Stefan told him.

"Is that what you tell Elena. 'Let it go'?" Alaric asked. They moved until they were mere inches apart.

"Leave Elena out of this!" Stefan warned quietly. I rolled my eyes and moved in between them, shoving them away from each other.

"Not that I don't love the whole alpha-male-contest-thing, but you two need a major time-out!" I told them. They both stiffened, but backed away from each other.

"I need to know what happened. I think you would want to know too." Alaric told Stefan. I stepped in between them again so that Alaric would look at me.

"Look, I know you don't like not being the one to handle Damon, but I will tell you everything I get from him. To get him to remember, I need something more than just a name. I need a picture of her or something that I could show Damon to help him remember." I told him. Alaric dug into his wallet and handed me a small picture of her. I took it.

"Thank you. I'll get this back to you." I promised. He nodded and walked off. I looked around and saw Jeremy heading into the Grill.

"I will get right on this-." I held up the picture of Isobel for Stefan to see. "-after I go talk to Jeremy." I hurried into the Grill after Jeremy and quickly caught up to him.

"Hey." He turned with a smile already on his face.

"Hey, Beth."

"What's going on here?" I asked, motioning towards all the people and the stage set up in the Grill.

"Ah, an auction for the most eligible bachelors of Mystic Falls… You get to buy tickets and hopefully you get a date with one of the men. I believe you need to be over eighteen to enter, however." He told me.

"Wouldn't enter anyway. None of the men in mystic falls really caught my eye." I told him.

"Then I guess I'm not considered a man." He was prying for information, seeing if I really liked him. I gave him my best smirk, something I'd learned form Damon.

"Or I don't like you that way… You need to figure that out yourself." I said mysteriously. He grinned at me.

"Well, I need to go find my big brother. Have a good day." I hurried out of the Grill again and headed back towards the Salvatore house.

"Damon!" I called as soon as I got inside the house. He came into view from the living room, putting on a nice jacket. I raised an eyebrow.

"You're looking at one of the most eligible bachelors of Mystic Falls." He said smugly.

"Did everyone else die?" I teased. He smirked.

"Ha ha, so funny." I held out the picture to him, stepping closer so he could see it.

"This is the woman, Isobel, from North Carolina. Remember her now?" I asked.

"Who wants to know?"

"I do."

"Who else wants to know?"

"Did you kill her?"

"Sorry. Don't know. And I have to go. The Real Housewives of Mystic Falls are waiting!" He darted out of the house. I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks for the help, moron!" I said under my breath. I walked up stairs to Damon's bedroom. I did promise Alaric information and I was a perfect snoop… It took ten minutes before I realized he had no journals or self-notes or anything about his past. I groaned. This was a waste of time. I headed towards the Grill. I knew Stefan and Alaric would be there so maybe I would get a chance to talk to them again.

* * *

I got into the Grill just as they were introducing Damon on stage. The mayor's wife, Carol Lockwood, was the one introducing him.

"We don't have much on you." I walked over to Jeremy and stood by him. He gave me a small smile but we said nothing as we watched Damon.

"Well, I'm though to fit on a card." Damon said smugly.

"Is your brother always like this?" Jeremy whispered to me. I folded my arms across my chest.

"You have no idea."

"Do you have any hobbies? Do you like to travel?" Carol asked.

"Oh yeah. L.A, New York… A couple of years ago I was in North Carolina. Near Duke campus, actually. I think… I think that Ric went there too. Didn't you Ric?" Damon asked.

"Damon… Don't you dare… Please…" I hadn't realized I'd said this aloud until I saw Jeremy giving me a questioning look. I didn't answer or try to explain. I headed for Stefan. We exchanged a knowing look.

"Yeah, cause I know your wife did!" Damon said. Stefan and I glanced at Elena. She was looker paler than normal. Stefan made his way towards her. I started making my way towards the stage.

"I had a drink with her once. She was a great girl. Did I ever tell you that? Cause she was… delicious." Damon went on. I was already going up the steps to the stage.

"He's drunk. Not the best date, fair warning." I told the crowd. I stood on my toes to whisper into Damon's ear.

"Shut. Up." I warned. He just smirked. I pulled him off the stage while Carol Lockwood awkwardly moved onto another guy to talk to him some more. Elena bumped into Damon as I tried to get him out of the Grill.

"Whoa, easy there. Buy a ticket like everyone else." He said, trying to flirt.

"Damon!" I hissed.

"Did you enjoy that? Rubbing it in to Mr. Saltzman?" She demanded.

"What?" Damon asked.

"Just as I was starting to think there was something redeemable in you!" Elena snapped. Stefan walked up behind us, shaking his head warningly at Elena. Damon looked at me confused. I gave him a cold stare in return.

"Am I missing something here?" Damon asked Elena.

"Did I forget to mention earlier when we were talking about my birth mother? That one that gave me up?" Damon raised an eyebrow.

"Her name was Isobel!" Damon's smirk faltered.

"So go ahead. Reminisce about how you killed her!" Elena hurried off, purposely bumping into his shoulder as she walked past him. Stefan went after her. I dropped Damon's arm. There was no point pulled him out of the Grill anymore.

"Next time I want information about someone, you might want to think before you talk about how you killed them!" He walked out of the Grill. I took a deep breath to calm myself and then followed. We went back to the Salvatore house. He went into the living room and poured himself a drink.

"Really?" I asked.

"What else would you like me to do, Beth?" He asked.

"Go to Elena. Talk to her!" I suggested.

"Why? I don't care about here!"

"Yes you do!" I cried. I walked over to him. "You care about her more than you want to. You love her. You just don't want to admit to yourself so you fool yourself by making yourself think you love Katherine. You don't!"

"Are you really this stupid?" He asked.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Not you." He snapped.

"Guess so." Alaric's voice came. I turned. He was standing behind us, a stake in hand. I could see a plan brewing in Damon's eyes.

"Alaric, don't!" I warned.

"I think he wants a fight, little sister. And you'd just get in the way." He grabbed my neck again and then it all went black.

* * *

I woke up on the floor with a sore neck. I knew at once what had happened. Damon had snapped my neck. I looked around quickly, trying to see if Damon was sill in the room. I saw Alaric's dead body a few feet away. Stefan was kneeling over it, but when he saw I was awake, he ran over to me.

"Where's Damon?" I asked.

"He left. What happened?" He asked.

"He… he snapped my neck. Stefan, he's never done anything to hurt me before! He killed vampires that did less to me!" I sobbed.

"I know… He's… different without Katherine. But he can be saved, just like I could be when I was a ripper. It's okay." He pulled me to my feet. I buried my head in his chest for a second and then stood on my tip-toes to put my chin on his shoulder and look over him. As I watched Alaric's body, his fingers twitched.

"Stefan… Did you see…?" Of course he didn't see that; he had his back to Alaric's body. I pulled away and walked over to Alaric, half wondering if I had been imagining that. I kneeled down and leaned over him. Suddenly Alaric gasped and jerked up in a sitting position, very much alive. I jumped back, startled. Stefan hurried over.

"What happened? What's going on?" Alaric asked.

"But… you were just… Did… Did Damon turn you?" I asked.

"No. I… I went for him and then he…uh, he stabbed me..." He said.

"No… No… You must have had vampire blood in your system. Someone must've slipped you some." I told him. He shook his head.

"No… It's something else." He said.

"Then how?" Stefan demanded.

"Um…" He looked down at the ring he had on. I wasn't sure how I didn't notice it before; it was a big bulky thing, not unlike Stefan and Damon's daylight rings.

"Isobel… This ring protected me!" Alaric said, twisting it around on his finger.

"That's impossible." Stefan protested.

"I know…"

"Okay, since you're not dead and I don't have to bury you out back I need to go find Damon before he does something else stupid." Stefan walked out the front door, shutting it with more force than was necessary. Alaric got to his feet and then started to fall. Some old instinct made me grab his arm to help him steady himself.

"Thanks." He mumbled. I just nodded and let his arm go once he wasn't swaying anymore.

"You look surprisingly healthy considering…" He trailed off.

"Considering Damon snapped my neck?" I rubbed my neck, remembering how sore it was.

"Yeah… But I'm…never mind." He decided against saying whatever he was going to say and instead busied himself with finding the stake he'd lost.

"Well, if you're not going to say, I will." I told him. I saw the stake under an end table and leaned down to grab it. I straightened back up and held the stake out to him.

"I'm glad Damon didn't actually kill you." I told him. He smiled slightly and took the stake from me.

"And I'm glad that your crazy, murderous, vampire brother didn't actually kill you." He returned. I smiled, mostly because of how uncomfortable he looked saying it.

"Thank you, Mr.-."

"Alaric." He corrected my quickly. I smiled again.

"We're on a first name basis now? Then thank you, Alaric." I told him. He nodded again and headed out the door. I heard his car start a couple minutes later. I looked around at the living room and then headed upstairs to my bedroom.


	16. There Goes the Neighborhood

**A/N Two updates in one day! I mostly did two in one day because this one is kinda short. Please continue to read and review! Thanks! **

"Damon hasn't said a word to me. Every time I talk to him, he just shuts down." Stefan told Elena and me as we walked towards school.

"Do you think he's still trying to find Katherine?" Elena asked.

"I don't know. He waited a hundred and forty-five years only to find out that Katherine couldn't care less. That's gotta hurt, right?"

"And it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy." Elena said sarcastically.

"You have every reason to be upset with him… Have you thought anymore about what you're going to do?" Stefan asked her. She shrugged.

"About what? Isobel, my vampire birth mother, who is related to my vampire ancestor Katherine, who screwed over your vampire brother? Nah, I hadn't thought about that at all." I saw Jeremy and hurried over to him, seemingly unnoticed by the troubled love birds.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked as I walked over to him.

"Nothing much… What's wrong with you?" He asked.

"Nothing… Why?"

"Because I think you tried too hard to be normal this morning. You're hair is up in a ponytail, which you never do, and you're not wearing anything except the ring you always wear. Normally there's a bracelet or a necklace or something." He told me. I smiled slightly.

"You're observant." I noted.

"I try. So what's wrong?"

"Fight with my brother." W_ith a snap of my neck to complete our wonderful evening_…

"Which I think I will stay out of." He said.

"Good idea."

After school I headed home while Stefan stuck with Elena. I went inside quietly; wondering if should avoid Damon if I wanted to stay with my neck in working order. I heard voices in the living room and I walked in.

"Ah, the youngest Salvatore. Elisabeth…" Anna's mother, Pearl, said as I walked in.

"Ah, Anna's mommy who was dumb enough to captured by humans." I returned. She shot me a look but said nothing. She turned back to Damon as Anna continued to glare at me.

"We've taken up residence at a farmhouse just outside of town. It'll suffice for now."

"All twenty-five vampires?" Damon asked.

"Not all. Some. I imagine a few have already left town and others are probably still in the woods or, like us, acclimating." Pearly explained.

"How did they get out of the tomb?" I demanded.

"I think the witch screwed up that part of her hocus pocus." Anna replied.

"I understand from Anna that the founding families still have a secret council?" Pearl asked.

"And you're a part of it." Anna added.

"That ridiculous." Damon said, trying to lie his way out of it.

"I've been in MysticFalls since the comet, Damon, I'm up to speed." Anna told him.

"And so am I. And now that you've infiltrated the council, I'll need to know everything they know, starting with a list of the names of all the council members and their families." Pearl told him.

"And everyone you've supplied with Vervain." Anna added.

"Yes, that will have to stop immediately." Pearl said.

"Who the heck do you think you are? And why are you in _our house_ again? There's the door, please let it hit you on the way out!" I snapped, going over to stand by Damon.

"What exactly are you trying to achieve?" Damon asked.

"MysticFalls is our home Damon. They took that from us. Our land, our home… It's time we rebuild." Pearl told him.

"Are you crazy? That was 1864! Wake up and look around, woman. The world has moved on! And this is our home, _not yours_." I growled, letting my fangs extend and stepping forward. Damon's arm shot out to hold me back, giving me a warning shake of his head. Pearl and Anna remained as calm as ever.

"As a reward for your help, I'm willing to give you what you want most." Pearl told Damon.

"I don't want anything." Damon snapped.

"Katherine." The one name I had hoped never to hear again…

"You wouldn't even know where she was. You've been under the ground for the last century and a half!" I told her, hopefully reminding Damon of the same thing.

"Katherine and I were best friends long before we came to MysticFalls. I know how she thinks, I know her patterns, I know where to find her." Pearl told us.

"I no longer have any desire to see Katherine ever again!" He told her. _Thank you, Damon, you're finally getting intelligent. _

"And there's no way we are gonna play the role of your little minion!" I added smugly.

"I'm not asking for your help, Damon. Finding Katherine was a mere gesture of kindness. The rest is non negotiable." Pearl told him. Suddenly Anna grabbed my arms and threw me back into a wall. My back hit the wall, knocking the wind out of me and then I hit the floor. I looked up at Pearl shoved her fingers into Damon's eyes, pushing him to the ground. I growled and ran forward, but Anna intercepted me, holding me back.

"I have four hundred years on you, _little boy_. I'll rip you limb from limb without even blinking and you know it. I'll be in touch." Anna let me go and they both left the house.

I spent the rest of the day at the Grill, watching Stefan, Elena, Caroline and Matt's double date and then Damon, Jenna and Matt's mother Kelly get drunk. I only headed back to the boarding house well after dark. I found Stefan and Damon in the living room.

"Are you crazy?" Stefan was asking Damon.

"What did he do this time?" I asked.

"He was making out with Matt's mother. Matt, Caroline and Elena all got to see it too." Stefan replied. I looked over at Damon.

"You have no limit do you?"

"Limit of what?"

"Damon-ness." I responded after trying to find another word and failing.

"Save the lecture, little siblings. Look-." Suddenly the window crashed as someone jumped through it. The man landed on Stefan and stabbed him with a piece of glass. Damon grabbed him and threw him off Stefan. They fought while a girl jumped on me. I remembered her from 1864, but I couldn't put a name to the face. I punched her as hard as I could, sending her rolling off me. I jumped up and landed a well aimed kick to her head that sent her flying towards Stefan, who was already getting up. He took a wooden chair leg and greeted her by a stake through the heart. The other vampire fighting Damon saw and darted off quickly. Damon cussed.

"I remember them from 1864… They were in the tomb." Stefan said. I realized he didn't know about the release of all the tomb vampires. He looked between us, waiting for an explanation. I scratched my head.

"Yeah… about that..."


	17. Let The Right One In

**A/N This was one of my favorite episodes to write just because of the humorous relationship between Alaric, Damon and Beth! I hope you guys like it!**

"I say we go to Pearl's, bust down the door and annihilate that idiot that attacked us last night!" Damon was saying as he boarded up the window the two vampires had broken through last night. Elena and Stefan sat on the couch, watching him. I stood beside him, handing him nails when needed.

"Let's say we do that. Then what? We turn to the other dozen or so vampires, however many Pearl thinks counts as 'some' and say 'oops, sorry'?" I asked. He shot me a look. I just held up a nail for him. He took it.

"I can't believe you made a deal with her." Elena said.

"It was more like a helpful exchange of information. And it's not like I had a choice." He replied.

"Aww… Is she scary?" I teased.

"Yes. And besides, she's gonna help me get Katherine back."

"Of course she is. Damon gets what he wants, as usual. No matter who he hurts in the process!" Elena snapped.

"You don't have to be snarky about it!" Damon told her.

"I woke up this morning to learn that all the vampires have been released from the tomb. I've earned snarky!" She shot back.

"How long are you going to blame me for turning your birth mother into a vampire?" Damon asked.

"I'm not blaming you Damon… I've accepted the fact that you're a self serving psychopath with no redeeming qualities." I smirked.

"Would you like some vampire blood for that burn?" I asked him.

"This isn't being very productive. We're gonna figure out a way to deal with Pearl and the vampires. Yeah?" Stefan asked. Everyone nodded. He and Elena left the room. I turned back to Damon.

"I'm blaming you for something."

"What?"

"You snapped my neck."

"Sorry."

"You didn't mean that."

"The neck snapping or the apology for the neck snapping?"

"Apology."

"I did mean it. I'm sorry. I was cranky."

"You make people cranky."

"It's a gift. Hand me another nail, would ya?"

* * *

Later that day, I sat at Damon's feet, handing him tools as he fixed a clock. Stefan walked over.

"Beth, you want to come hunting?" He asked.

"No thanks… I don't have the heart to eat Bambi or Thumper today…" I told him, handing Damon a screwdriver.

"Who are you, Snow White?" Damon asked sarcastically. Then he looked over at Stefan instead.

"I've got two liters of soccer mom in the fridge. No?"

"We'll talk when I get back?" Stefan asked Damon.

"All right… Give my regards to the squirrels."

* * *

I woke up on the couch later, to Damon shaking me.

"What?" I demanded.

"Call Stefan."

"You call him." I rolled over to go back to sleep, but Damon shook me again and tossed my phone at me, nearly missing my head.

"He's not answering calls from me and he's been gone for hours." I sat up.

"What?"

"Call him." He repeated. I hit the first speed-dial to call him. It rang for a while, but no one answered.

"Again. Maybe we can annoy him into answering. I'm worried." Damon said.

"You're worried for Stefan?"

"Just call him. I'm calling Elena to see if he's with her." I called about a dozen more times before finally all my calls just went straight to voice-mail.

"Let's go." Damon took my arm and pulled me off the couch. We darted to Elena's house and paused on the porch. Damon called her on her phone, but she ignored it. I knocked on the door. Elena answered it and Damon stepped inside. I followed suit, looking around the living room for Stefan.

"You're ignoring me." Damon told her.

"The six missed calls? Sorry. My phone was dead." She told him sarcastically.

"Is Stefan here?" I asked her.

"No. Why? Is something wrong?"

"Would you count Stefan going into the woods and not coming back as wrong?" Damon asked, returning her sarcasm.

"He's not answering either of our calls. We thought and hoped he was here with you." I told her. She dialed his number on her 'dead' phone.

"It's going straight to voice-mail."

"Really? I didn't notice from the dozen times I'd tried!" I snapped, getting too anxious to be polite.

"Where could he be?" Elena asked. Damon sighed.

"You are not going to like what I'm thinking…" He muttered. Then he looked up at Elena again.

"Get in your car." He told her. She didn't hesitate. We drove outside the town and to where Pearl had said she was hiding out with the vampires.

"Stay here." Damon told Elena as we climbed out of the car. It was raining, so I pulled my hood up. We darted through the woods and to the house. Damon banged on the door with his fist.

"Pearl! Open this door! I'll burst through and rip your head off!" Damon yelled. The vampire that attacked us last night opened the door.

"Pearl's not home. Beautiful weather… Not a ray of sun in the sky…" He said.

"We're not here for talks of weather and tea. Where's our brother?" I demanded. The vampire turned around.

"Billy?" Two vampires dragged Stefan into the hallway so we could see him. He was weak and looked like he'd taken quite a beating.

"You're dead!" Damon and I said at the same time, for once on the exact same page. I tried to get into the house, but hit the barrier since I wasn't invited in. Damon caught me as I stumbled back.

"Whoa, I'm sorry. You haven't been invited in, have you? Miss Gibbons?" An old lady walked over to him.

"Never let these bad people in." He told her.

"I'll never let them in." She agreed. She was obviously under compulsion. The vampire turned back to us.

"A hundred and forty-five years left starving in a tomb… All thanks to Katherine's infatuation with the Salvatore Brothers. First few weeks, every single nerve in your body screams with fire. The kind of pain that can drive a person mad. Well… I thought your brother might want to get a taste of that before I killed him. Billy." 'Billy' the vampire stabbed Stefan in the stomach with a stake. I tried to get in again, though I knew I wouldn't be able to.

"You have a nice day." The vampire shut the door.

"I will get in here and I'll kill you!" I screamed.

"Beth, let's go." Damon grabbed my arm and pulled me off the porch. We hurried back to the car. Elena saw us and got out to meet us.

"What happened? Where is he?" She asked.

"They have him. We can't get in." I told her.

"Why not?"

"Because the woman in the house is compelled not to invite us in. Anymore stupid questions?" I snapped.

"I can get in there!" Elena said.

"You're not going in there!" Damon told her.

"I'm going in!" She protested.

"You're not going in there." He repeated.

"Why are they doing this?" She asked.

"Revenge. They want revenge!" I told her. Was that not completely and utterly obvious already?

"We gotta do something!" She said.

"You don't think that I thought of that when I saw them stab him, Elena? He's my brother! I don't want him in there and I know we have to do something!" I almost yelled at her.

"We can't let them hurt him! We gotta get him out of there!" Elena went on.

"Yeah, no crap Sherlock!" I snapped. For once, Damon was the nicer one.

"I know, Elena, I know. But I don't know how to get him out."

"I know another person that could help us." I said, suddenly remembering.

"Who?" Damon asked.

"Alaric."

* * *

We found Alaric walking through the hallways of the school. Damon and I darted in front of him. He stopped dead.

"Well, don't you look… alive?" Damon said.

"You can't hurt me." Alaric said.

"Oh, I can hurt you alright." I gave Damon a shove, causing him to stumble a few steps backwards.

"We need your help. Please." Elena caught up with us, a pleading look in her eyes. Alaric looked between us and then stepped into his classroom, motioning for us to follow him. Elena explained everything to him as quickly as possible.

"Stefan's in the house. Damon and Beth are vampires. They can't get in. We need you. I would go in but-."

"You're life is valuable. Yours on the other hand…" Damon finished.

"Stefan told me about your ring." Elena said.

"What about it?" He asked.

"Let me recap: you tried to kill me. I defended myself. You died. Then, according to my siblings, your ring brought you back to life. Am I leaving anything out?" Damon asked.

"Oh yeah… How about the part where you snapped your own sister's neck when she tried to stop you from killing me? And the part where I try to kill you again… Only this time I don't miss." Alaric told him.

"Mr. Saltzman, please! It's Stefan." Elena pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Elena, but it's not my problem." Alaric told her.

"That's a shame because the woman in charge of the crowd can help you find your wife." Damon said.

"You're lying."

"Am I? Why don't you ask her yourself? Coward. Come on, sis, Elena, let's go." We all started to walk out.

"Alright! I'll go!" Alaric called. We turned. Alaric was already pulling an arsenal of vampire weapons out from a bag beside his desk.

"Teacher by day, vampire hunter by night… Can you get weirder?" I asked him as we walked back over.

"I've got your brother to thank for that." He said, sending a glare towards Damon. Elena picked up a tranquilizer dart from the desk.

"What are these?"

"Those are tranquilizer darts filled with Vervain." Alaric answered.

"Just get me in. I'll get Stefan out." Damon said.

"Um, you mean 'us in', right?" I asked.

"Nope. You're staying outside with Elena. Far away, in fact. Like in the car." Damon told me.

"Stefan is my brother too!" I protested.

"I'm aware."

"I'm going in!"

"There's gosh-knows how many vampires in there. No."

"I wasn't asking." We glared at each other, each daring each other to say something. I saw out of the corner of my eye, Alaric and Elena exchanging 'what's happening?' looks. Finally Damon groaned loudly and I knew that I had won our silent little argument.

"If you get killed, I'll kill you!" He threatened.

"That's your plan? You're just gonna take them all on yourself?" Elena asked Damon.

"Well, I'll be a little stealthier than that, hopefully." Damon told her. Elena took one of the Vervain darts and put it in her purse.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" Alaric asked.

"I'm going in with you guys."

"I get to go in because I'm a hundred plus year old vampire. You're a seventeen year old human. Big difference, Elena!" I told her.

"No way!" Damon told her.

"You'll need me! I'll get in. You could distract them and then I'll get Stefan out." Elena told him.

"You'll get yourself killed. You're not going in there." Damon said.

"I'm going!" Elena insisted. Damon just ignored her, looking over at Alaric again.

"So when you get Beth and me in there, get out as quickly as you can. I know how to sneak around so they can't hear me. Beth is a master of staying out of sight and out of mind, ironic since she's my sister, right? You'll basically be in the way." He explained.

"Damon, now is not the time to be the Lone Ranger!" Elena said.

"Relax, I got Squanto-." He jabbed his thumb over his finger at Alaric. "-and Silver." He pointed to me. I had no idea why I was being referred to as the horse, but I said nothing. She gave him a 'knock it off' look.

"Fine. You can drive the get-away car. But you're not going into that house." Damon told her.

"You can't stop me. Its Stefan here we're talking about. You don't understand."

"Oh, I understand, I understand. He's the reason you live. His love lifts you up where you belong. I get it!"

"Can you not joke around for two seconds?" She asked.

"I can't protect you, Elena! I don't know how many vampires are in here." He snapped his fingers. "That's how long it takes for you to get your head ripped off. Beth and I have to be able to get in and get out. I can't be distracted with your safety or this will end up in a bloodbath none of us walk out of. Including Stefan. I know. I get it. I understand." Damon told her.

"If we're going to go, let's go." Alaric said. They gathered the weapons and walked out of the room. Elena went to follow, but I grabbed her arm.

"This might seem unfair to you, but he's protecting you. We'll get Stefan out. I promise."

* * *

We drove back to the house and Alaric, Damon and I headed through the woods, leaving Elena in the car. Alaric went through the front door, muttering the story about his car breaking down and needing to use the phone under his breath. Damon and I snuck around to the back porch silently. We waited by the back door. A minute later, Alaric opened the door with Miss Gibbons beside him.

"Oh, I'm sorry. They aren't allowed in the house." Miss Gibbons said.

"I know that but you've gotta make an exception!" Alaric told her.

"Get her out of the house, now!" I told her. Alaric pushed her out the door and I grabbed her.

"Miss Gibbons, tell me the truth. Are you married?" I asked.

"No."

"Parents, children, anyone who lives on this property besides you?" I asked.

"No, it's just me."

"Good." Damon said. He snapped her neck. Once the owner was dead, we could get inside.

"You were supposed to compel her!" Alaric protested as we stepped inside the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, Alaric, it doesn't work that way. She was already compelled and we couldn't override that with another compulsion!" I told him.

"She was human!"

"And we're not, so we don't care!" Damon hissed. I flinched when he said 'we don't care' and I saw the look Alaric gave me. Confusion, shock… pity.

"Just get out here before any more vampires come in." I whispered to him. He nodded and headed out of the house. I shut the door as quietly as I could behind him. We heard someone walking towards the kitchen. Damon pulled a stake out of his pocket and pushed me into the pantry. He hurried in after me and pulled the door shut. When the door opened, Damon jumped out and staked the vampire. I darted out after him.

"Come on. Stick close." Damon whispered. We snuck out of the kitchen and into the cellar. I grabbed a smaller stake from my pocket and threw it like a knife at the vampire guarding the cellar as we came down the stairs. He dropped to the ground, dead. Elena stepped around the corner.

"Are you insane?" Damon asked. She didn't answer. I looked through the window on the door into the next room. When I saw Stefan I hurried inside. Elena and Damon were right behind me.

"Elena… You shouldn't be here…" Stefan said weakly from where he was hanging from ropes.

"She was supposed to wait in the car." Damon snapped. He went to stake the vampire sitting in a chair with stakes through his legs, but Stefan shook his head.

"No… not him…"

"Whatever." Damon said. I ran over and reached for the ropes, but as soon as I touched them, I yanked my hands back painfully.

"There's Vervain on the ropes." I told Damon.

"Elena, pull that!" Damon ordered her, pointing towards where the ropes were tied. She ran over and pulled the ropes up. Damon and I caught Stefan as he fell the couple inches to the floor.

"All right, let's go. Clothes on." Damon threw Stefan his shirt. I helped him get it over his head.

"Wait." Stefan protested as we started to pull him out of the cellar.

"What?! Guys come on, we have to get out of here!" Damon said. Stefan went over and pulled one of the stakes out of the vampire's legs. I ran over and pulled the other one out.

"Come on, we gotta go!" Damon urged from the door. Stefan leaned on me as we went over to Damon. I could hear the other vampires upstairs. I passed Stefan off to Elena.

"Can you get him to the car?" I asked.

"Yeah." She agreed.

"Then go!" Damon hissed.

"What about you two?" She asked.

"You rescue, we distract. Go!" I ordered her. Damon and I headed back upstairs while Elena and Stefan went out the cellar door. A vampire was coming into the hallway, so I grabbed the second stake from my pocket, darted over, staked him and then darted back unseen. Damon grinned over at me as we watched that vampire from last night stare in shock at the dead vampire.

"Nice work, sis." He mouthed at me. I smiled.

"Spread out! Now! You two, back of the house. Go. Check both rooms. Cellar, now!" The vampire started barking out orders.

"Get the ones in the cellar? We might as well be thorough." Damon whispered so low it was hard to hear. I nodded in agreement. I darted down the cellar steps after the two vampires. I staked one from behind and ducked as the other one swung at me. He kicked my hand, hard, causing me to drop the stake. Then he grabbed me by the throat, pushing me against a wall.

"You're a…"

"Were you going to say 'little girl'? Because that's not good for your health." I told him. I head-butted him and then kicked him in the stomach. I jumped for my stake and grabbed it. He jumped for me and all I had to do was hold the stake out in front of me. It got him through the heart. I pulled it out, smirked at his dead body and then hurried upstairs again. Alaric and Damon were there.

"I'm going after Fredrick!" Damon ran off.

"Fredrick! That was his name!" Alaric looked at me as I said it.

"Not the most important thing right now." He reminded me.

"Right. Sorry." He was busy reloading his dart gun. Suddenly a vampire jumped on top of him from behind us, knocking him to the ground. I jumped onto the vampire, staking him. I kicked the body to the side and then offered my hand to help Alaric up. He looked slightly surprised but took it. I pulled him up.

"Thanks." He said.

"No problem." Damon came back into the hallway.

"Fredrick's gone." Damon told us.

"Let's get out of here." Alaric suggested.

"I'm gonna kill him." Damon went on. The three of us headed out onto the front porch. We saw a dozen or more vampires heading for the house, not looking too thrilled with us.

"How many darts do you have left?" Damon asked Alaric.

"One."

"Not gonna be enough!" He decided. We ran back inside.

"What do we do?" I asked.

"Take our chances." Damon suggested.

"We can't take all those vampires!" I protested.

"Well…"

"Damon!"

"Fine! You got a plan then, Beth?" He asked.

"So what you said about my wife… That was a lie, wasn't it?" Alaric asked.

"Yep." Damon agreed with a casual nod. I gave Alaric an apologetic look. Just then Anna and Pearl walked into the house. The three of us turned to face them.

"Stop! What's going on here? What did you do?" Pearl demanded.

"Us? You're merry little band of vampires spent the day torturing our brother!" I growled. I started to step forward, stake raised, but Damon put out an arm to stop me again. Alaric grabbed the hood of my sweatshirt and used it to pull me backwards.

"Trust me, the parties responsible for this will be dealt with." Pearl told us.

"Our little arrangement doesn't work unless you learn to control them." Damon told her.

"This wasn't supposed to happen." Pearl said.

"Well it did." I said. I darted past her and looked out the window on the door. No vampires were outside. I waved my hand towards Damon and Alaric. Alaric hurried over to me. Damon walked slowly past Pearl and Anna.

"If I had a good side… Not a way to get on it!" Damon told them. We ran outside and into the woods, heading for the car at human speed.

* * *

That night, I was on the couch, doodling in one of my school notebooks. It was kind of hard to concrete on Spanish when you had to worry about vampires.

"You see Stefan?" Damon asked, walking into the room. I looked up.

"Let's go find him. We need a leash for him." I said. I threw my notebook aside and we walked up the stairs to his bedroom. I opened the door.

"Stefan-." I stopped when I saw the empty blood-bags all around him. He was draining another one. He looked up, eyes black and vein-y.

"Oh no..."


	18. Under Control

**A/N This chapter/episode has some brother-brother-sister relationship between Damon, Stefan and Beth. I've been trying to have more interaction between the three siblings when they aren't at each other's throats over Katherine. **

Damon and I headed up to Stefan's room a couple of days later. Stefan was doing push-ups on the floor, music blaring out of the stereo.

"Can you turn that up a bit? It's not annoying yet." Damon said sarcastically.

"Sorry…" Stefan told him. Damon turned off the stereo. I sat down on the top of Stefan's desk, watching him do his push-ups.

"When are you going back to school? I don't like Beth alone with vampires and vampire hunters running around." Damon asked.

"Soon." Stefan replied.

"And I'm fine. Don't push it!" I told Damon. I was worried about him becoming the Ripper again. Been there, done that, don't wanna go back.

"Oh come on, just drink already. Come on, this self-detox thing is not natural." Damon told him. He put the glass next to Stefan.

"Damon!" I got off the desk and walked over to him.

"Can you get that away from me please?" Stefan asked tersely. I glared at Damon. Damon looked amused, but pulled the glass away. I stepped in between them.

"How long did it take you to wean yourself last time you indulged?" Damon asked. Stefan didn't answer, but it gave Damon all the information he needed.

"That's not good."

"He'll be fine! He just needs a bit of time!" I told Damon, still standing in between them.

"I don't get it. You know, little brother, little sister, you don't have to kill to survive. That's what blood banks are for. I haven't hunted in… Way too long." Damon said.

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" I snapped.

"I _am_ impressed." Stefan said from the floor behind me.

"It's completely self-serving. I'm trying to get the town off the trail of vampires which is not easy considering there is an entire tomb of them running around… Well, minus how many of them that Beth and I killed to get your butt out of that vamp-infested house." Damon told Stefan.

"What are we planning on doing about that?" Stefan asked.

"We're not going to be doing much of anything if you don't have your strength. There's nothing wrong with partaking in a healthy diet of human blood from a blood bank. You're not actually killing anyone." Damon reminded him.

"I have my reasons." He replied.

"Well, what are those holier than thou reasons? You know, we never actually discussed this. You know, I'd love to hear this story."

"If you had actually lived with us, then you'd know." I told him.

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you? Watching me struggle?" Stefan asked.

"Very much so."

"Well, I hate to break it to you, Damon, but I actually have it under complete control." Stefan told him.

"You do? Well, then you should carry on making the rest of us vampires look bad. Except for Beth… You're both weird. Have a great day, my little siblings." He walked off, purposely leaving his glass of blood on the desk. I saw Stefan staring at it.

"Don't. Not worth it." I reminded him. Damon walked back in.

"Oh, hey, almost forgot something. Oops." He smirked, took the glass and left.

"You can drink human blood, Beth." Stefan reminded me.

"No, I can't."

"No, you won't." He corrected me. He paused for a second.

"You don't drink blood for my sake. I didn't ask you to do that. But if you want to fight these vampires, then you need your strength."

"I took down three of them at that house!"

"I know, but you had the element of surprise. They'll have it next time. Go join Damon in a drink." He told me. I couldn't ignored the logic in that. I went downstairs. Damon met me at the bottom and handed me a glass of blood.

"Good girl." He told me, obviously having been listening into the conversation. We clicked glasses.

"To strength!" Damon cheered.

That day at school, Alaric kept Elena and me behind as he dismissed the rest of the class. He put a piece of paper down on his desk in front of us.

"I made a copy of a paper Jeremy wrote for me. I think you two should take a look at it." He told us. I read the title.

_Fact or Fiction: The Truth about Vampires in Mystic Falls_

"Jeremy wrote this?" I asked.

"He made it very clear that he didn't think it was real." Alaric told me.

"I really hope you're right because I've done so much to try and protect him from all of this." Elena said.

"So how do you deal with it?" Alaric asked.

"What do you mean?"

"All the lies and secrets? You have to lie to everyone that's important to you."

"It's not safe for them to know the truth… So yes, I keep it from them, but only because I love them." She told him. There was a long pause.

"I think Stefan is a good guy… But at the end of the day he's still a vampire. The only vampire I half-way like is Beth." He said, pointing with a pen towards me.

"Are you just saying that because I'm in the room?" I asked.

"No, Miss Warm-and-Fluffy, I'm not. Don't expect special treatment, though." He told me. I laughed as Elena and I walked out again.

* * *

That night Stefan, Damon and I went to the Founders-day kick off party.

"I shouldn't be here…" Stefan hissed. I took his arm, linking my own in it so I could easily steer him one way or another without it being obvious.

"Come on, don't be a downer, it's a party for the founding families. That would be us. It would be rude to skip it." Damon told him.

"I really liked you a whole lot better when you hated everyone." Stefan told him.

"Oh I still do… I just love that they love me." He replied.

"How are you feeling?" I asked Stefan.

"I'm good, I'm fine…" He told me.

"No cravings? No urges? Is that whiskey you've been drinking all day doing the job?" Damon teased.

"Damon! Knock. It. Off!" I warned. But Stefan just laughed.

"We are who we are, Stefan. Nothing's gonna change that."

"Ah, nothing would make you happier to just see me give up, would it Damon?"

"Whatever. It's inevitable." Damon told him.

"Well, I'm gonna find Elena." Stefan pulled his arm away from me and left.

"Don't embarrass me, young man!" Damon called loudly after him. He smirked and then took my arm.

"Come along, little sister." He steered me around, greeting other people. Then he took me to the bar, where Elena was standing, watching Stefan dance with Matt's mother.

"Have I entered an alternate universe where Stefan is fun?" Damon asked as we joined her.

"Is he gonna be okay?" She directed the question at me.

"Eventually." I replied.

"One way or another." Damon said with a smirk. Damon left to go talk to Sheriff Forbes. Matt came to get Elena to dance and I was left alone. I saw Jeremy come in and I went over to him.

"Hey, you came."

"Oh, yeah." He said.

"You wanna dance?" I asked.

"Oh, no…"

"Please? I'm bored and my brothers dragged me here, apparently not trusting me home alone. Make it worth my while?" I pleaded. He sighed.

"One dance." He told me. I grinned.

"Come on!" I took his wrist and pulled him out onto the dance floor. We had a quick dance before he went off again. I went over to a couch and sat down. Then I heard Elena yelling outside. I hurried out onto the back porch. Alaric met me there and we ran over to Matt and Tyler, who were in a fist fight. I grabbed Tyler and Alaric grabbed Matt. I pushed Tyler back. He looked surprised at my strength.

"Knock it off. What was that about?" I demanded. The mayor walked out.

"I'll take it from here." He said. Alaric and I went back inside.

"So we have to deal with vampires and stupid teenagers now?" I asked.

"You're a teenager."

"I was born in 1848." I informed him.

"Hmm…" I walked over to Damon by the door. A man walked in.

"You've got to be kidding me." Damon muttered.

"What? Who is that?" I asked.

"That's John Gilbert, Elena and Jeremy's uncle that came back into town… And I just snapped his neck." He said. I punched him on the arm, hard.

"You what?"

"Obviously he's not really dead!"

"Obviously." I agreed. Then the Mayor started talking on stage. Damon took my arm and we made our way into the crowded living room to watch.

"John Gilbert, would you join me up here, please?" John Gilbert walked on stage and over to the microphone.

"One hundred and fifty years of community, prosperity, family… We take care of each other, we look after each other, protect each other-." He looked straight at Damon. "-It's good to be home." Damon's hand tightened on my arm. He pulled me away and over to Alaric.

"Look at his right hand." He told us.

"Who's?" Alaric asked.

"Towns favorite's son. Look at his ring." Alaric and I looked at his right hand and the ring on it. I looked down at Alaric's magic ring. It was a copy of Alaric's.

"Well, it looks just like mine…" Alaric said.

"Yeah and that would just be a big coincidence if he didn't come back from the dead five minutes ago." Damon said.

"Yeah and who killed him five minutes ago, idiot?! Alaric, where did you get that ring?" I asked.

"Isobel, my wife…"

"Who gave birth to Elena, under the medical care of the esteemed doctor Grayson Gilbert, John's brother." I reminded the two of them.

"Do you think John knows Isobel?" Alaric asked Damon.

"I think John knows a lot of things..."

* * *

When John left, Damon, Alaric and I followed him out to the parking lot.

"Going somewhere?" Damon asked. John turned.

"I never liked to be the last one to leave a party. It's too desperate. You're going to kill me again or you going let Mr. Saltzman do you're dirty work. I know that both of you are vampires." John told the three of us, motioning at both Damon and myself.

"Okay, so obviously you know who I am." Alaric said.

"I do. Alaric Saltzman, a high school history teacher with a secret."

"Well, don't you know a lot for someone who just came into town?" I said, stepping forward. He might be able to come back to life, but I was more than capable of killing him at least once.

"More than you can imagine, Elisabeth Salvatore. My knowledge of this town goes beyond anything that you-." He stared at me. "-Or you-." He stared at Damon. "-Or you-." He stared at Alaric. "-Or the council knows. So if you're planning on some clever high speed snatch ring vamp kill move, know that if I die, everything I know goes to the council including the fascinating little tale of the original Salvatore siblings and their present day return to Mystic Falls." John told us. He pushed me back mockingly, knowing I wouldn't do anything. I stumbled back and Alaric caught me.

"How did you get that ring?" Alaric demanded.

"I had inherited one, my brother Grayson had the other. This was his-." He held up his hand for us to see the ring. "-And I wouldn't have given mine to Isobel if I had known she'd hand it over to another guy." He said. He motioned towards Alaric's ring.

"So you did know her." Damon said.

"Who do you think sent her your way when she wanted to become a vampire?" John asked.

"You sent her?" Damon demanded.

"Guilty. Why, did you think someone else sent her? Maybe Katherine Pierce?" John teased.

"How do you know about Katherine?" Damon growled.

"How do I know anything, Damon?" John returned.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"So many questions... It was a pleasure meeting you, Ric, I've heard so much about you." John walked off. We all looked at each other. I was the first to speak.

"Well that was… weird."

I returned home and went to my bedroom, ignoring the conversation that Damon and Stefan were having downstairs. It looked like we had a new enemy in town…


	19. Miss Mystic Falls

**A/N So you might find this kind of a boring chapter since it mostly focuses on the Miss Mystic Falls and romance of the whole show. I hope you guys like it anyway!**

Elena and I walked out of school together at the end of the school day.

"You know, there's going to be a MissMysticFalls pageant. It might be a good idea for you to try out. You'll convince people you're-." She leaned in to whisper. "-Not a vampire."

"I'm not good at being in the spotlight." I told her.

"You're still shy? I thought you got over that."

"No, I got over it for when I'm with you. I'm still awkward around even people like Jeremy and Bonnie and Caroline!" I informed her.

"Hmm… Still, you should try. You can ask Jeremy to be your date." She suggested.

"And that's sounding better!" I said.

"Ah, know you're talking!" Elena told me.

"But I thought you had to sign up ahead of time?"

"No, that was just me and actually… my mom signed me up… Besides, you're one of the founding families, so they'll love having you as one of the competitors. I'll sign you up, all you have to do is show up for everything and look pretty." She explained.

"Fine, I'll do it. Thanks, Elena… Where's Jeremy? I want to ask him and give him some time to get ready, should he actually accept." She looked around for him.

"Right there." She pointed towards Jeremy. I hurried over.

"Jeremy!" He turned.

"I wanted to ask you something."

"Hmm?"

"I'm going to sign up for MissMysticFalls… And I wanted you to be my date." His face fell. I knew what the answer was going to be and I scrambled to explain myself.

"I mean, just…just because you're like the only guy that… that I really know and…and I understand it's a little out of the blue but-." I stuttered.

"It's just that Anna's my girlfriend know and it would be kind of wrong to be on a date with another girl so-." He said at the same time.

"Yeah, yeah, I understand. Thanks anyway." He nodded and walked off. I turned and saw Tyler behind me. He shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Need a date?" He asked.

"Um… Yes. Are you offering?"

"I am. Gilbert dump you?"

"No! He just has a girlfriend. Who is not me…"

"Ah… So, we going together? My mom wants me to be someone's partner since I'm her son and all that crap." He said. I nodded.

"Then, yeah. I'd like that."

"Cool." We smiled a little and walked off in different directions.

A couple of days later, Mrs. Lockwood was teaching all the hopeful MissMysticFalls and their dates how to do the famous dance at the school gym.

"Honor your partner. Stay focused, right hand around. Flirt with your eyes." Everyone laughed at that.

"Left hand around!" Tyler stumbled as we switched sides.

"How come you're so good at this?" He asked me. _I was around when it was invented. _

"I cheated. My brother Damon knows it, so I had him teach me so I wouldn't look like an idiot." I told Tyler. He nodded as we continued our dance, keeping our hands an inch or two apart.

"I wish my mom had taught so I wouldn't look like an idiot." He muttered as he stumbled again. Mrs. Lockwood called for us to switch sides again.

"You're not _that_ bad."

"Gee, thanks."

The day of the MissMysticFalls competition, I sat in front of a vanity, letting Bonnie straighten out my normally curly hair while Jenna did the opposite with Elena a couple feet away.

"Thank you for helping me, Bonnie." I told him.

"You're welcome. I like helping you out. Besides, no offense, but you can't apply make-up or fix up your hair worth a crap by yourself." We both laughed. She finished with my hair and turned my chair around to start with my make-up.

"And… Done!" She said as she finished. She handed me my dress as Jenna and Elena left the room to help Elena change into her dress. It had a light pink hoop skirt with a white corset top.

"You've worn dresses like this every day in the 1800's, right?" Bonnie asked.

"Yep. Girls my age were supposed to." I told her.

"Must've been… uncomfortable."

"It was." I assured her.

"I'll watch the door so you can change." She walked out, shutting the door behind her. I quickly changed into my dress, but I couldn't tie my corset.

"Hey, Bonnie, could you tie my dress for me?" I asked. She came back into the room.

"Of course." She fumbled with the strings, but got it tied. I shoved my feet into white high heels.

"The girls are already lining up on the balcony. Come on." She led me out of the room where the other girls were at the balcony. She hurried downstairs and joined the crowd down there. Elena went over to me.

"Do you see Stefan?" She asked. I looked over the balcony. I saw Damon, but there was no Stefan down there. I shook my head.

"I'm sure that he'll make it; he wouldn't miss it." I assured her. There were already calling out names. Carol Lockwood went over to me.

"You're next, honey." I nodded and went to the top of the stairs.

"Miss Elisabeth Salvatore escorted by Mister Tyler Lockwood." I walked down the stairs, painfully aware of the heat in my cheeks. As I got to the bottom of the stairs, Tyler took my arm.

"You made it." I whispered.

"You didn't think I would?"

"I've grown up with two brothers who couldn't keep a date if their life depended on it… I guess expecting it with every man is hard wired into me." I whispered. We went outside. I saw that Elena was being escorted by Damon instead of Stefan. I had to wonder where he was. We began the dance. I absentmindedly did all the moves.

"What's the matter?" Tyler whispered.

"Stefan was supposed to escort Elena today, but Damon had to step in. Normally Stefan is more dependable than that, especially for Elena…" I answered. The dance ended. There was going to be a couple minutes before the MissMysticFalls was announced. Tyler walked over to talk to some of his friends. Jeremy walked over to me.

"What the heck?" He asked.

"What?" I demanded.

"Your date is _Tyler Lockwood_?" He asked.

"Yes. And?"

"I hate him!"

"And you said no without much thought to the matter, didn't you? What did you expect me to do, Jeremy? He saw that and he offered. I didn't have to ask him. And for the record, just because you hate someone, doesn't mean I have to hate them too!" I snapped.

"But-."

"Is that it?" I interrupted him. Tyler walked back over and put an arm around my waist.

"There a problem here, Gilbert, or can I take my date back?" Tyler asked him. Jeremy glared at both of us before backing away again.

"Yeah. Take her." He snapped. He hurried off. Tyler looked down at me.

"Do I need to know?"

"Nope. Just Jeremy being… well, a jerk. Let's go, their about to announce the winner!" I told him. We headed up on stage with the other girls and their dates.

"Before I crown the winner, I'd like to offer a personal thank you to all of these young ladies for their efforts to better the community." Mayor Lockwood said. _Does killing vampires count as an effort to better the community?_ Everyone applauded.

"So, without further ado, it is my honor to announce our very own MissMysticFalls… Miss Caroline Forbes!" Everyone applauded. Tyler leaned in to whisper in my ear.

"Probably better... You don't seem like the girl who would want to be in the spotlight." I smiled slightly and turned back to whisper to him.

"Good guess…"

There was a party afterwards, with much more dancing and lots of human food. Damon found me slightly after dark while I was talking with Tyler.

"I need to take my sister back. Thank you for being her date, though." Damon said sincerely. Surprised to hear this coming from Damon, Tyler nodded. Damon pulled me away and over to Bonnie and Elena.

"Where's Stefan?" I asked.

"There were signs of struggle upstairs in the bathroom…. There was blood and that Amber Bradley girl is missing." Damon told the three of us.

"He wouldn't hurt her! He won't!" Elena protested.

"Let's just find him, okay? Get your coat, Elena." He told her. She hurried off to go and get it. He headed out the door, pulling me by the arm with him. He stripped off his suit jacket and handed it to me. It was more out of habit that anything else; vampires didn't get cold. I put it on anyway, rolling up the sleeves so I could use my hands without them getting in the way. Bonnie and Elena joined us. We went through the woods, searching for him. We ran up to him as he bit into a girl's (Amber I guessed) neck.

"Stefan!" Elena yelled. Stefan released the girl. Damon and I ran over to him.

"Stefan, come on, get it together! It okay!" I told him, grabbing his arm. Stefan threw me back. I hit a tree and landed on the ground.

"Stefan, stop!" Elena yelled again. Bonnie caught up and held out her hand. Stefan dropped to the ground, holding his head painfully. Once he was on the ground, Bonnie stopped. Stefan got up. He looked around, horrified.

"Stefan, it's okay!" Damon tried to convince him. But Stefan darted off into the night…

Bonnie, Elena and I stood in front of the sheriff.

"You didn't see anything?" She asked.

"No we just found her and called Damon." Elena said. Damon walked over to me, putting an arm around my shoulders. I put my head against his chest, faking fear.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Bonnie asked.

"It looks like, yeah. Why don't you girls go back to the party; Damon and I can take it from here?" The sheriff suggested. We nodded and walked off towards the party again. Tyler ran over to me as we got back. Elena and Bonnie walked off; leaving us alone.

"Are you okay, Beth? I heard about the police and about that injured girl that was in the woods." He told me. I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I assured him.

"Okay, good… You need a ride home?" He asked.

"Umm… Actually, sure… My brother's working with the sheriff so I don't want to bother him." I told him. He nodded and led me towards his car.

"Thanks for this, Tyler." I said as we climbed into his car. It was awkward in my dress, but it was nothing I wasn't used to doing.

"No problem. You are my date, after all."

He drove me home as we talked about human things (football games, school papers, etc.) and walked me up to the front door. I turned when we reached it.

"Thanks again."

"Yeah, sure…" Then he leaned in and kissed me. Not two seconds later, the door opened and I jumped back. Damon was there.

"Interrupting something?" He asked with a smirk.

"I'll go." Tyler said before going back to his car. I turned to Damon.

"You had to interrupt that, why?"

"Come here." He pulled me into the house and down into the cellar.

"What are we doing?" I asked. Elena was down by the door to the jail-room.

"Stefan's gone Ripper… He needs to be contained." Damon told me. I looked into the jail-room at Stefan. He was weak and had obviously been Vervained.

"He's a Ripper again?" I asked.

"Almost… Too close." He pushed Elena gently towards the stairs. He grabbed my arm and pulled me with him. I shook out his grasp and went back to the door.

"I'm sorry, Stefan."


	20. Blood Brothers

**A/N So this chapter/episode doesn't have much action in it, but there are some flashbacks to 1864. **

Elena, Damon and I stood in the cellar, watching Stefan. He was muttering stuff under his breath. The only word I could make out was 'Katherine'.

"It's so hard to see him locked up like this." Elena whispered.

"You're the one that locked him up." Damon reminded her.

"You helped." She shot back.

"I couldn't have him running around chewing on people while the town's looking for vampires, could I, Elena?" Damon replied.

"It had nothing to do with you actually caring about him?" I pressed.

"That's your thing, Beth, not mine." Damon reminded me. My phone buzzed and I walked out into the living room to answer it. It was Tyler.

"Hey."

"_Hey, um, we haven't talked since that night._"

"Right… Yeah, I was going to call you, but it's just I had some family drama I'm still dealing with."

"_If anyone can understand that, it's me. We'll talk when you're up to it._"

"Thanks, Tyler. And that night was probably the best date I've ever had. Thank you."

"_Welcome… I gotta get ready for school. You gonna be there today_?"

"Um… No. I think I should stay here and deal with this. But I'll see you soon, I promise."

"_Sure, sure. Bye_."

"Bye."

"I'm heading for my house to pick up some clothes. Who was that?" Elena asked as she headed for the door.

"Tyler."

"Tyler?"

"Yeah… We might be dating now. I'm not sure."

"I thought you and Jeremy were…"

"Nope. He's got Anna."

"Oh… Well, sorry. But I hope you and Tyler work out."

"Thanks." She headed out the front door. I went to the fridge in the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of blood from behind several food things, just in case someone went snooping. I headed down to the cellar.

"I'll stay here with him." I told Damon. He eyed the bottle.

"Fine, but be careful. He did try to hurt you the other night."

"He wouldn't have really hurt me."

"That's what you think… Just be careful." He walked out. I went into the jail-room, closing the door behind me, but not locking it. I handed the bottle to Stefan.

"Brought you something to eat." I told him, waving the bottle in front of him.

"Not hungry."

"Come on, you know you'll get all rotting and dead-ish if you don't eat!" I reminded him.

"Not hungry." He repeated.

"Fine… I'll leave this here for you. You'll eat eventually…" I put the bottle down next to him. I started to walk off but turned back to him.

"Look, Stefan, I know you're all for the self-hatred thing, but you need to eat." I told him.

"No… No…"

"Stefan… You know what. Fine… Just starve. See if I care!" I snapped.

"You do… Or you wouldn't be trying to convince me to eat."

"True. Now eat before I get mad!"

"No…"

"Stefan!"

"Beth, Stefan?" Elena walked into the jail-room.

"You shouldn't be in here." I reminded her.

"I know… You should drink that." Elena pointed towards the bottle.

"I'd rather starve."

"You'll die."

"I want to."

"Don't say that! You know that's not true!" I grabbed Elena's arm and pulled her out of the jail-room. I shut and locked the door.

"He's being dramatic he won't actually starve himself." I told her.

"You're sure?"

"I've known him since 1848, Elena. You've known him for what, a couple of months at the most? He won't do it." I assured her.

"Beth, Elena! I'm going out! Be careful!" Damon called downstairs.

"We will!" I yelled back.

"Let's sit and wait for Stefan to eat." I told her. We sat down on the steps to wait.

A couple of hours later, Jeremy called me.

"I'm going to take this… Stay away from that room." I warned Elena, standing up. She nodded. I went upstairs to the living room and answered my phone.

"Hey."

"_Hey… Um… About what happened at the Miss Mystic Falls things…_"

"What about it?"

"_I'm sorry. I know I was a jerk and I know that you didn't have much of a choice taking Tyler as your date since I said no…_"

"Well… Thank you."

"_You weren't at school today._"

"Family drama."

"_Oh… Okay. Well, I'll talk to you later?_"

"Hmm… Sure."

"_Kay… Bye_."

"Bye." He hung up. I headed back down to the cellar. I stopped when I saw the steps empty and the jail-room door wide open. I darted inside. Elena looked up from sitting beside Stefan.

"Seriously? What did I _just_ tell you?" I asked.

"Sorry. But I wanted to talk to him."

"You can talk through the door, Elena." She ignored me and turned to Stefan.

"Talk to me. Why are you doing this?"

"I'm making the decision I should have made years ago…" Stefan replied.

"What are you talking about?" She asked. I knew what he was talking about. I shut the door and went to sit on the other side of Stefan.

"You have to drink human blood to complete the transition." I reminded her.

"I know that." Stefan just moaned.

"It was a choice I shouldn't have made…" He told her. I let myself remember the night he made that choice while he told Elena about it.

_Mystic__ Falls__, 1864_

_I sat in one of Father's chairs, sobbing. Finally I looked up. _

_"You killed them? You killed your own sons?" I cried at Father. _

_"They were helping vampires. It had to be done. You need to be in bed." One of the maids came and pulled me out of the room. I shook my arm away from the maid. _

_"My brothers are dead?" _

_"They are, Elisabeth." I cried again. It felt like I just took a bullet through the heart and my heart had shatter. Seeing this, the maid pulled me into a hug. Then I heard Father talking in his office. I walked back in, ignoring the maid's protests about not disturbing him behind me. I gasped when Stefan was standing there. _

_"Stefan!" I jumped into his arms, confused but relieved at the same time. Father pulled me away, pushing me behind him. _

_"He's one of them now!" I looked at Stefan, confused. He wasn't a vampire… was he? _

_"No, father, I came to say good-bye." _

_"I watched you die!" Father spat. _

_"You were there when we were shot?" _

_"I pulled the trigger myself!" _

_"You killed your own sons?" Stefan asked. _

_"You were both dead to me the moment you sided with vampires! I only thank God your mother isn't alive to see the disgrace you've become!" _

_"I haven't turned yet! I don't want to. I'm going to let myself die, Father!" _

_"Yes, you are!" Father pulled a stake out of his coat. _

_"NO!" I yelled. Father ran at him and Stefan pushed him back. He hit the wall and the stake impaled him in the stomach._

_"Father, I didn't mean to!" Stefan cried, going towards him. I stood frozen in the middle of the room. _

_"Get away from me!" _

_"No, let me help you. Please." Stefan pulled the stake out of Father. He saw the blood and licked it off his fingers. His eyes transformed. _

_"What happening to me?!" Stefan cried. Then, as Father died, Stefan turned to me, fangs out. _

_"I'm so…hungry!" He leapt towards me and fed on me. Everything went black…_

I snapped out of the memory.

"What, if you…you killed Beth, then how is she a vampire?"

"I must've been slipped vampire blood. By Anna, most likely. Katherine, maybe if she was a good mood that day…" I told her.

"So Stefan killed you and you woke up as a vampire and…?"

"Damon found me. He helped me feed; he'd already fed. Then we found Stefan and tried to… I dunno know. Save him, I guess. I'll be upstairs." I walked out, leaving them to talk. Damon came back inside.

"Since you're here, I'm going out." I told him.

"Fine." He returned. I headed for the Grill. Once I had an order of fries, I sat down at a table and let myself sink back into another memory.

_Mystic__ Falls__, 1864_

_"Beth! Beth, wake up, please!" My eyes fluttered open to see Damon leaning over me. _

_"Oh thank God!" Damon pulled me into a hug. I hugged him back as I looked around the destroyed room and remembered what had happened. _

_"Stefan… Stefan killed me!" _

_"I know, but you're fine now. You'll be okay." _

I let out a breath.

"Thanks for the lie, Damon."


	21. Isobel

**A/N Last episode before the finale, which personally, I think you guys will love! **

"So these are the specs for the history department. For the Founder's Day float we'll be recreating the battle of Willow Creek. Tyler has been nominated at the head of the production design." Alaric said as he passed around papers to all the students in the cafeteria. Stefan was back to his 'Bambi Diet' as Damon called it. Damon and I were still on human blood from the blood banks.

"By whom?" Tyler asked Alaric.

"By me. I've seen your sketches. They're really good." Alaric told him.

"I'm not into the…"

"Pick you're team, be creative and don't screw up." Alaric told him. Alaric headed towards Elena and Stefan. Tyler turned to Matt.

"You want to help me out with this?" He asked. Matt shook his head.

"Not really, no." Tyler turned to me, opening his mouth to ask the same question.

"I'm not good at building, but sure, I'll help out." I told him. He smiled.

"Thanks."

"Beth!" I turned as Alaric called for me.

"Gotta go." I hurried over to Alaric and he led me into his classroom. Stefan, Elena and Damon were already there, waiting for us.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"I saw Isobel last night." Alaric told us.

"Isobel is here? In town?" Damon asked. Alaric nodded.

"Did you ask her about Uncle John? Are they working together?" Damon asked.

"No."

"No their not working together?" I asked.

"No, I didn't ask."

"What about the invention?" Damon asked.

"The what?" I asked.

"Didn't ask."

"Did she know about the tomb vampires?"

"I don't know."

"Did works completely escape you?" Damon asked.

"No, I was a little distracted by my dead vampire wife to ask my questions!" Alaric snapped. I sat down on the desk top next to him.

"What did she want?" I asked.

"She wants to see me." Elena informed us.

"Alaric is supposed to arrange a meeting. We don't know why or what she wants." Stefan told us.

"You don't have to see her if you don't want to." Damon told Elena.

"I don't really have a choice." Elena told him.

"She's threatened to go on a killing spree." Alaric said.

"And I take it that's not okay with you…?" Damon asked.

"No!" We all said at once. Elena sighed.

"I want to do it. I want to meet her. I'll regret it if I don't."

Later Damon, Alaric and I stood in front of the Grill. Stefan, Elena and Isobel were inside. Damon was pacing back and forth, obviously not happy.

"We should be in there." Damon said.

"She made it clear we were not to set a foot inside. We're pushing it having Stefan inside across the restaurant…" Alaric reminded him.

"I'm not gonna kill her in a crowded restaurant."

"You're not going to kill her, period!" Alaric told him.

"She ruined your life and you still want to protect her?" Damon asked.

"She's my wife… _Was_ my wife… I looked for the woman I married, but she wasn't there. Whoever that is, she'd cold and desolate."

"She must've given up her humanity." I told him.

"Yeah, I don't get that. Stefan's got his a humanity and he's a good guy. You've got your humanity, you're better than some humans I've known. Damon's a-." I ignored the cuss word. Damon shot a look at Alaric. "-but there's something human in him. But with her… There was nothing." Alaric said.

"You can turn it off. Like a button you can press. I mean, Stefan's different. He wants the whole human experience. So do I. The problem is, as a vampire, your instinct is not to feel. Isobel chose the easy road; no guilt, no shame, no regret." I explained. Alaric looked over at Damon.

"You haven't shut it off."

"Of course I have Ric. That's why I'm so fun to be around." He said. Alaric looked at me. I shook my head and mouthed 'no he hasn't' at him. My phone buzzed and I pulled it out of my pocket.

"It's Tyler. I'm not sure how many more 'family drama' excuse cards I can throw at him…" I muttered.

"He wants you to help with the float?" Alaric asked.

"Yep. Can you guys handle this alone, should something need to be handled?" I asked.

"Of course." Damon told me.

"Then I will meet up with you in a while." I answered the phone as I walked away.

"Hey Tyler."

"_Hey, I was just wondering if you had those sketches done you were going to do for me?_"

"Oh yeah, do you want me to drop them off at your place? I'm going right past it." I said. It was a lie, but I could be there in a couple seconds.

"_That'd be great._"

"I'll be there in a minute." I darted home, grabbed my backpack with the float sketches in it and then darted to his house. I knocked on the door.

"Here ya go." I handed him the sketches as he opened the door.

"Thanks. You wanna come in for a minute?" He asked, stepping aside from the door. I saw his mom watching us and I shook my head. _The last thing I need is to blow my human-cover by doing something stupid_.

"No thanks; I have something else I need to get to. But we'll see each tomorrow when we work on the float, right?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, sure." I hurried off the porch, going human speed until I was out of sight of the house and could vamp-speed back home.

The next day almost everyone at the school was working on the float. Tyler put me as supervisor over the girls panting the walls of the shed that would be on the fort. I looked over at Elena and saw her talking to Isobel. Elena saw me watching moved her eyes towards the float, signaling for me to look there. I looked over right as someone jumped onto the trailer. Matt was working on the axel underneath it and it crushed his arm. He yelled in pain. Tyler and some of his friends ran over to lift the trailer. I got there a second later and used my vampire strength to lift it up just enough for Matt to get his arm out. Caroline ran over.

"Caroline, call an ambulance." I told her. She got on her phone and came back a minute later.

"The ambulance is saying it'll take fifteen to twenty minutes to get here."

"I can drive you to the hospital." Tyler offered.

"Caroline can take me."

"I didn't drive!" She cried.

"Then I'll wait!" I kneeled down in front of him, compelling him.

"You need to go to the hospital. Let Tyler drive you."

"Fine." He agreed under the compulsion.

"I'll bring my car around." Tyler said before running off to do so. Elena ran over to me and grabbed my arm, pulling me away from the crowd.

"Jeremy's gone!"

Bonnie, Elena, Stefan, Damon and I stood in the Salvatore living room.

"Absolutely not!" Damon protested.

"Just hear me out!" Elena pleaded.

"I'm not gonna give the device to Isobel so she can turn it over to John so he can kill me! I like being a living dead person!" Damon told her.

"What device?" I demanded.

"You start dating the mayor's kid you get put out of the loop!" Damon told me.

"Whoa, you're dating Tyler?" Bonnie asked.

"Kind of."

"Focus! And Damon, it'll be useless; Bonnie can take its power away." Elena said.

"I don't trust her." Damon said.

"I can remove the original spell." Bonnie told him.

"John and Isobel will never know." Elena added.

"No, I'll get Jeremy my own way." Damon decided.

"Really? How are you going to do that?" Stefan asked.

"Isobel is a vampire; thanks to you might I add. She could kill Jeremy the second that you walked in that door!" I reminded him.

"Are you even up to this? I mean, no offense, but you're no Emily Bennett. Emily knew what she was doing!" Damon reminded Bonnie.

"I've been practicing!" Bonnie told him.

"It's not piano lessons, honey!" Damon snapped.

"What's your favorite book?" She asked Damon.

"What?"

"Name a book."

"Name a book… Call of the Wild. Jack London." Bonnie turned to the library behind us and held out her hand. A book flew off the shelf and into Damon's hands. He looked at the title.

"Jack London. Great parlor trick." Damon told her.

"We're doing this, Damon. And we're doing it my way! Now give me the device; we're wasting time!" Elena told him, holding out a hand.

"I don't trust you; I tried to kill you!" Damon told Bonnie.

"You're right. You can't trust me." Bonnie agreed.

"But you can trust me." Elena told him. He looked around at all of us and then handed Elena a small box. She took it gratefully.

"Thank you."

Bonnie did a quick spell to make it useless and then we went to the town square to trade it to Isobel. Damon, Stefan and I stayed out of sight.

"Where's the device?" Isobel demanded Elena.

"Where's my brother?"

"This isn't a negotiation. Give me the invention!"

"Where's my brother?"

"You really think I came alone?" Two vampires stepped up behind Elena. She didn't even look behind her.

"You think I came alone?" Damon and Stefan walked up behind Isobel. I went over to Elena. I turned to the vampires and growled, letting my fangs extend. They took a step back. I smiled. _Newbie's, what a waste of Isobel's time…_

"For god sakes, call home!" Isobel told Elena.

"What?"

"Call home and ask to speak to Jeremy." Elena pulled out her phone and dialed her home. I listened in as someone answered the phone.

"_Hello_?" Jeremy. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Jeremy, are you okay?" Elena asked.

"_Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Uncle John hit his head, though. It was an accident_." He informed her.

"_We're all laughing!_" Jenna said in the background.

"_But yeah, I'm fine_." Jeremy told Elena.

"I'll be home, soon, alright?"

"_Yeah, okay_." Jeremy hung up. Elena looked at Isobel.

"You were never gonna hurt him." Elena told her.

"No, I was going to kill him. Don't look for any redeeming qualities in me. I don't have any." Isobel told her.

"But you took a risk with Damon… How did you know that he was going to give it to me?" Elena asked. Isobel smirked.

"Because he's in love with you." Everyone looked at Damon. He looked down, uncomfortable. Elena handed the device over to Isobel.

"Thank you." Elena told her.

"For what?"

"For being such a monumental disappointment. It keeps the memory of my _real_ mother perfectly intact!" Elena snapped.

"Goodbye, Elena. As long as you keep a Salvatore on each arm, you're doomed. Katherine was smart. She got out. But we all know you're not Katherine." Isobel darted off, as did the two vampires behind Elena. Stefan went over to hug Elena. Damon just looked down and darted off. I followed.

Later that night, I was just going to sleep when my phone rang beside me. I picked it up to see who was calling. Elena… I answered it.

"What? It's late, I'm tired…"

"_I know, I'm sorry._" It sounded like she was crying. I sat up in bed.

"Elena, what happened?"

"_Jeremy…_"

"Jeremy what?" I demanded, instantly worried.

"_Jeremy knows_."


	22. Founders Day

**A/N Hey guys, here's the final episode of season one. I hope you guys enjoy it. Also, I just put up a little one-shot that's canon to this, featuring a much younger Elisabeth and Damon. Not really needed to understand this story, just something I thought up that you guys might like. The title is His Little Sister: 1857 if you guys want to go check it out. You can also find it in My Stories on my profile, of course. I will also be starting season two and it should be up soon under the title of The Vampire Diaries Season Two. I promise you that it gets much more exciting and Beth does get her boyfriend (won't tell you who though! You have to read it to find out!). Now, without further ado, I present to you: Founders Day. **

Everyone was busy with the Founder's Day parade. Tyler ran over to me as I looked around for Jeremy. He looked at my jeans and tank top.

"You're not going to be on the MissMysticFalls float?" He asked.

"Um, no… You were right. I didn't like being in the spotlight." I told him. To be honest, I'd completely forgotten about that. He nodded.

"Look, can we talk about our…relationship?"

"Sure…" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"It's just not working for me. I mean, you're never around and when you are, you're looking for Gilbert. Can we just call it off and be friends?" He asked.

"How long did you practice that in the mirror?" I asked.

"It's just-."

"I understand…. I don't blame you either. Thanks for not doing it over some crappy text or something." I told him. In reality, a sense of being unwanted was filling me. Sure, I loved Jeremy… But it still stung that he _didn't want me._Tyler nodded again.

"Thanks for understanding." He mumbled before he hurried off. I looked around and then I finally spotted Jeremy. He almost smirked before he saw my face. I sighed and ran a hand under my eyes to make sure no tears had escaped. Then I hurried over.

"Jeremy-."

"Don't! You're a vampire, right? I read it in Elena's diary… You never told me. And you _let_ Damon erase my memory!" Jeremy snapped.

"But-."

"Just leave me alone." He stomped off. I watched him for a minute before I felt a hand on my shoulder. I spun around. Damon stood there.

"He being mean to you? I can fix that."

"Just leave him alone, Damon." I told him. He held up his hands.

"Fine… Fine… Come on, the parade's about to start."

Later, after the parade had ended, I saw Damon and Jeremy talking. More like arguing. I started to head through the crowd as Damon grabbed Jeremy's arm.

"Let me go because I cause a scene!" Jeremy told him.

"You'd be unconscious before you even got a word out." Damon returned.

"Damon, enough!" I told him, finally reaching them. He looked at me and then he let go of Jeremy's arm without hesitation. Jeremy looked at me.

"Didn't need you're help. Didn't want you're help. You can run back into the crowd and let Damon compel me again if you'd like and then pretend like you didn't so I'll be a good little boy and stay you're friend!" He told me. Damon grabbed his arm again to spin him around as he was about to walk off.

"I already told you once and I'll tell you again so that you're little brain can remember it: don't talk to your sister like that. And now I'm telling you this once and once only: especially don't talk to _my sister_ like that. I've done a lot of bad things to _vampires _that did less to her, Gilbert. Do it again and I'll do worse then compel you to forget one of the worst days of your life, got it?" Damon asked in a low voice. Jeremy nodded, trying to hide the fact that he was scared. Damon let him go and he walked off. Damon turned to me again.

"You like him… Why?"

"You didn't have to threaten him!" I told him.

"Yes, yes I did. He does that to you again, I'll have to make good on my word." He walked off. I watched him disappear into the crowd.

That night the Mayor stepped on stage to give his speech. Damon ran over to me and grabbed me, pulling me away from the crowd.

"Good, I found you."

"What?" I asked.

"Tomb vampires. Planning an attack. Let's go." He said. The fireworks started above us. Damon cussed and stopped walking.

"New plan: I need to do something. You get little Gilbert. They're targeting the Founding Families. Make sure he's safe if you care about him so much." He ran off. I went to the Grill, knowing that Jeremy could only be in a few places, this being one of them. I only got to the middle of the restaurant before my head started pounding. It was like when that witch, Bree, hurt me in the bar. I dropped to the ground, screaming. A cop ran over to me and stuck a needle into my arm. Fire raced through my veins. Vervain… The cop started dragging me out of the restaurant. I was too weak to fight. I saw another cop dragging Anna out. In the distance I heard Jeremy screaming.

"Anna! Beth!" Then I finally gave into the Vervain and passed out.

I woke up on the floor in a room I didn't recognize. I weakly turned my head to look at Damon.

"What…?"

"They caught… us." He said weakly. His hand reached over for mine. I let him take it. A fire was already burning around us. Damon looked over at me.

"They… staked Anna…" He informed me. _Anna? She… She was my best friend in 1864…_ She may have been a pain the butt, but she was still my friend. He looked around.

"Mayor? Is that you?" I turned to look where Damon was looking. The mayor was just sitting up, seemingly unaffected by the Vervain.

"What are doing here?" The Mayor asked.

"I'm a vampire. What's your excuse?" The mayor's eyes widened.

"Seriously… The Vervain didn't affect you… If you're not a vampire, what are you?" Damon asked. The Mayor scooted back, bumping into one of the other vampires.

"Mayor Lockwood!" The vampire snapped his neck.

"Oops." Damon said.

"We're going to die, aren't we?" I asked, coughing from the smoke.

"Not on my watch…" He tried to get up but a flaming beam fell down in front of him. He fell back down beside me and took my hand again.

"Don't worry… You don't even have a watch." I told him. He gave a weak laugh.

"Ha… Thanks." Suddenly we heard Stefan.

"Damon! Beth!" He ran down to us. He grabbed me and vamp-sped up the stairs. He set me down at the top and right back for Damon. I crawled out of the building into the ally. Elena ran over to me.

"Beth!" She hugged me around the shoulders, kneeling down to get to my level. Stefan and Damon came out and Elena ran to them. Damon went over to me as she hugged Stefan.

"You okay, little sis?" I nodded. He hugged me, pulling me to my feet as he did so.

"You need to go home. Sleep it off." He whispered. I nodded.

"Go. I'll check on Jeremy… Tell him what happened." He told me. I nodded again. I darted back to the house, though I was slower than usual. I went to my bed and collapsed on it. I closed my eyes and then relived all my moments with Anna in 1864…


	23. Season Two

**Season Two is now up! The title is The Vampire Diaries Season Two! **


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